By Ude Ogbonnaya Isreal, Bauchi
Experts of Physiology in Bauchi State have called on government at all levels to pay keen attention to funding physiology-driven research in order to address some health gaps in the nation.
The call was made recently while speaking to our correspondent in an exclusive interview on the prospects of Physiology Education and carreer in Nigeria.
Dr. Philemon Paul Mshelia, the Acting Head of Department; Department of Human Physiology, College of Medical Sciences, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU) Bauchi, Nigeria, identified lack of funding as a key limitation to research in the state.
“Funding is key to research not just in the state but in the nation and globally. There is paucity of fund for research; the government doesn’t give out much funding for research and I don’t think Bauchi state government has budgetary allocation for research in her annual budget”, he said.
Dr. Mshelia noted that the United Nation Education Scientific And Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) stipulates 25% minimum of total budget to education and chunk of that ideally should be channeled to research. According to him research transcends the idea of mere finding cause and effects, but the process which involves training, skill acquisition, acquiring of equipment among others.
“There are Basic research today that cannot run in Bauchi and in our University here because of the lack of some equipments; so what you are left to do is to collaborate with where the equipments are available or sometimes go out of the country to conduct such research. But if we have these equipment readily available here, it will go a long way to help in our research”, the Physiologist added.
In her part Mrs. Halima Bawa a Technologist in the Department of Human Physiology, College of Medical Sciences, ATBU Bauchi, highlighted some career prospects in Physiology to incude working in clinic as trained opticians or assist in test for eye defects. Physiologists according to her could also serve as Carrdiovascular Technician, in Electrocardiography (ECG), or work in the lab as haematologists, histologists etc. Other areas where they could work include industries, pharmaceuticals, fitness and sports centres as well as with NGOs.
Another personnel, Dr Auwal Madaki, also a lecturer in the Department of Human Physiology , College of Medical Sciences, ATBU Bauchi buttressed further the place of research and maintained that a lot of health issues are cropping up on daily basis and require fresh medication ideas which can best be anchored through research.
Martaba Fm Online gathered that the Bauchi Physiology team is supported by The Physiological Society. The Physiological Society does a lot in funding physiologists by organising world-class conferences, offering grants for research as well as publishes latest developments in the field in its three leading scientific journals; The Journal of Physiology, Experimental Physiology and Physiological Reports while bringing together over 4,000 scientists from over 60 countries
