By Idahosa Musa
Benin City, Nigeria – Director-General of the National Senior Citizens Centre (NSCDC), Dr. Emem Omokaro, has said that the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), has become Nigeria’s first NSCC-NBTE/UNESCO Centre of Excellence-accredited National Skills Qualification (NSQ) training provider for Geriatric Social Care.
Dr. Omokaro made the assertion on Tuesday in Benin during a visit to UBTH’s Chief Medical Director, Prof. Darlington Obaseki, ahead of the accreditation.
He explained that beyond accreditation, the National Assembly was considering a bill to establish a regulatory framework for Nigeria’s geriatric care sector.
“The regulations will provide a legislative foundation and compel compliance with a national framework and standards for Geriatric Social Care.
“This is an initiative of the National Senior Citizens Centre in partnership with the National Board for Technical Education and Skills Nigeria Limited,” she said.
According to her, the geriatric social care system is now streamlined, formalized with standardized national framework and now integrated into the Federal Government Public Service work scheme.
Earlier, Prof. Obaseki lauded NSCC’s collaboration with the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) to formalize the sector, urging hospitals to prioritize older people and build workforce capacity.
“Geriatric Social Care goes beyond clinical services. It requires deliberate care and specialised facilities for older persons,” Obaseki said.
It was gathered that the Teaching Hospital pursued accreditation after successfully training and certifying Quality Assurance Assessors (QAA) in geriatric care.
The training center is located at UBTH’s Institute of Health Sciences and Technology (IHT).
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