By Oluwakemi Ishola
The College of Medicine of the University of Ibadan has debunked the report that it received a sum of N118 million from Governor Seyi Makinde-led Oyo State Government for coronavirus tests. The College management also said it returned N5m donation to Oyo Government when it was no longer useful.
The College management made this disclosure in a press release signed by its Deputy Registrar and Secretary to the College, Dr. Ikeoluwapo O. Moody and made available to the Pacesetter News.
The statement reads:
The attention of the management of the College of Medicine has been drawn to the content of a release by Toye Akinrinola, the Public Relations Officer for the University College Hospital (UCH) on behalf of the Chief Medical Director.
The release referred to the press release by the Oyo State Government that the sum of N118 million was given to UCH to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. The release stated emphatically that UCH did not and has not received any monetary donation from the Oyo State Government. The release however inferred that because of the seeming misunderstanding in the difference between the College of Medicine of the University of Ibadan and the UCH, it was possible that the College of Medicine received the money.
The College Management wishes to state emphatically and categorically that it did not receive the sum of N118 million from the Oyo State Government for COVID-19 tests.
To set the record straight, Oyo State Government initially gave the College of Medicine N5 million to run the Biorepository and Clinical Virology Laboratory setup for the purpose of testing COVID-19 patients.
However, when the accreditation by the NCDC was not forthcoming, the N5 million was returned to Oyo State Government to help in fighting the pandemic in the state.
Eventually, the Biorepository and Clinical Virology Laboratory was accredited by the NCDC and the College of Medicine is working in tandem with the State Government in testing patients using materials donated by the NCDC, Corporate bodies, Alumni Association and other stakeholders.
I therefore wish to state that the College of Medicine did not receive money to the tune of N118 million from Oyo State Government
