The College of Medical Sciences, University of Calabar, has been commended for establishing a Student Support Centre aimed at providing counselling services and tackling mental health challenges amongst students and staff of the institution.

The Vice Chancellor of the institution, Prof Florence Obi gave the commendation when the Provost of the College led other members of staff to pay a courtesy call on her in her office recently.

While describing the Medical College as the 'beautiful bride' of her administration, she lauded them for the initiative and restated her commitment towards ensuring that the Centre is up and running.

 

The University helmsman who further described the establishment of the Center as a 'blessing' assured that she will engage the services of licensed professional counsellors to man the Centre.

She added that the University Management was not oblivious to the multifarious challenges bedevilling the Medical College, saying she is poised to tackle those challenges and breathe a new lease of life into the College.

Prof. Obi who harped on the issue of under-staffing in the College tasked the Provost to consider engaging part-time lecturers to fill the vacuum, saying the University will do everything humanly possible to support the College.

She also called on the leadership of the College to source for alternative funding as the University alone cannot shoulder the responsibility owing to paucity of funds.

Responding to the issue of security raised by the Provost, she said the institution would stop at nothing to provide adequate security, saying there is a robust partnership between the institution's internal security outfit and other security agencies in that regard.

Prof. Obi promised to provide more classroom accommodation for the College, even as she called for a review of students' charges in the College to raise more funds to tackle the various needs of the College.

Earlier, the Provost, of the College of Medical Sciences, Prof. Ngim Ngim appreciated the Vice Chancellor for her unalloyed support for the College, saying it has contributed immensely to the achievements recorded by the College.

The Provost said the essence of the visit was to present the new crop of College Management to her and to commend her for creating an enabling environment for a peaceful and seamless transition in the College as exemplified by the free and fair election that produced the current leadership of the College.

Challenges of the College of the college as enumerated by Prof Ngim include inadequate office spaces, lecture rooms and furniture, poor equipment in some departments, poor power supply, and little or no security presence, among others.

He appealed to the University Management to redouble its efforts towards tackling the challenges in the College to enable it to achieve its mandate.