By Correspondent in Ilorin
A lecturer at the University of Ilorin, Professor Moyosore Salihu Ajao,has called on the Federal government to legislate and regulate the practice of embalming services.
The don of Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, of the institution made the call on Thursday at the 214 Inaugural Lecture of the University with the theme:”The Belly, The Brain And Environmental Toxins: ‘Balancing The Conflicts Between Necessity And Cost’
Prof. Ajao stressed the need for Anatomical Society of Nigeria to use its political will to establish the Anatomical Council of Nigeria, adding that if and when established, it should be constitutionally charged with the responsibility of regulating the practice of Anatomy in Nigeria.
“However, care must be taken to prevent duplication or conflicts of roles by the already established Councils in the country,” he warned.
The Don also stressed the need for the Federal Government and the National Assembly to expedite action on the repel and re-enactment of the Anatomy Act which has been in existence since 1938,without any review whatsoever, to bring it up to spade of the modern day reality.
“The time to do that is now as this will regulate the practice of Anatomy in the country and give legal backings to issues of body donation.” He said.
“There must be a radical change and review of curriculum of B.Sc(Anatomy) program to enable them adapt to other careers and equipped them for the challenges of the nearest future.” He submitted
“To stem this trend, in order to train graduates to become anatomy teachers, we must provide opportunity for post-graduate training. To do this, enough funding must be made available for the procurement of necessary equipment and chemicals for postgraduate courses relevant to the different disciplines of anatomy”.
Prof Ajao stressed the need for Professional association in Nigeria, such as Anatomical Society of Nigeria (ASN) to organise workshop at regular intervals to look into problems of cadaver’s preservation and presentation.
” There are also needs for regulations on the personnel and the minimum qualification required by the practitioners in the country to streamline standard procedure and adherence to them,”he noted.
