On behalf of the Staff, Students and Alumni of the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan (CoMUI), I congratulate Dr. Victor Makanjuola (MBBS, MSc, FWACP, MNIM), a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Psychiatry, CoMUI and Honorary Consultant to the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan on his election as President of the Medical and Dental Consultants’ Association of Nigeria (MDCAN). More importantly, I ask us to pray for wisdom, health and strength for Victor to enable him lead MDCAN at this most difficult time in the history of our health sector in Nigeria. He needs all the support and prayers he can get at this time.
Dr. Makanjuola was elected along with others to form the National Officers’ Committee (NOC) at the recently concluded 12th Biennial Delegates Meeting (BDM) of the MDCAN, which held from 30th August to 5th September 2021 at the Emeritus Professor Theophilus O. Ogunlesi Multipurpose Hall, UCH, Ibadan.
Victor had his secondary education at Loyola College Ibadan and graduated top of his class in 1989. He proceeded to the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan and was in the MBBS graduating Class of 1998. During the time he was in CoMUI, he contributed greatly to building up his community by serving as a member of the Student Representative Council of the University of Ibadan Students’ Union Government (1996/97 session) and as the Charge de affair of the Embassie Club University of Ibadan (93/94 session). An avid sportsman, he was a member of the Alexander Brown Hall and the University of Ibadan Medical Students’ Association football team (serial winners of the Provost’s Cup).
He had his residency training in the Department of Psychiatry, University College Hospital, Ibadan excelling throughout and was the best candidate at the West Africa College of Physician’s (WACP), Faculty of Psychiatry Exam in April 2003. He also won several fellowships which enabled him attend international conferences.
His areas of interest are in the management of difficult to treat patients with complex social and clinical problems in general psychiatry practice and in managing patients with psychosis with comorbid addiction to alcohol and other psychoactive substances. He also has interests in working on innovative ways of extending mental health services to hard-to-reach or neglected populations and for several years he led the community mental health team in the Department of psychiatry. He is a United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) certified trainer in the management of addiction and also a member of the Nigerian Institute of Management. He also had training in Leadership and Management in Health Care, in the online programme of the University of Seattle, Washington, USA.
He has held several positions of leadership in the Department of Psychiatry as well as in UCH such as Chief Resident (2006-2007), Residency Training Coordinator (2012-2017) and Deputy Chairman, Medical Advisory Committee in charge of Clinical Services UCH (2019-2021). He had served as Secretary General of the National Body of the Medical and Dental Consultants’ Association of Nigeria (2015) and as Vice President I (2019-2021). He is a keen advocate for deploying good leadership and management skills to reposition the health care system in Nigeria for excellent service delivery. He is actively involved in research and has over 30 articles in reputable peer review journals.
Dr. Makanjuola’s Mission for his two-year tenure as President of MDCAN is to advocate for measures that would lead to a rapid transformation of the nation’s health system so that effective and efficacious preventive, curative and rehabilitative healthcare at affordable costs can be available to all Nigerians. Some of the measures he hopes to advocate for include:
- Urgent expansion of health insurance coverage to at least 50% over the next 5years from the roughly 5% level coverage currently
- Promoting and incentivizing participation of the private sector in the delivery of care at the primary, secondary and tertiary level of healthcare
- Advocating for the increase in funding for healthcare and the training of health workers
- Promoting inter-professional harmony and collaboration for better outcomes in service delivery, research and training and
- Advocating for the decentralization of the administration of tertiary health facilities.
We also congratulate two other members of the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Dr. Yemi Raheem Raji (Department of Medicine) and Dr. Timothy Aladelusi (Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery) who will join Dr. Victor Makanjuola and as Secretary-General and National Treasurer respectively of the National Officers’ Committee (NOC) to steer the affairs of MDCAN for the next two years.
Victor is married to Dr. Olufunmilola Bamidele Makanjuola, a lecturer in the Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, CoMUI/UCH and they are blessed with wonderful children including a set of twins!
Congratulations to the Makanjuolas, Rajis and Aladelusis, and the MDCAN and CoMUI family.
Olayinka Omigbodun FAS, FNAMed, FAMedS
Professor of Psychiatry and Provost
Pictures are from the12th Biennial Delegates Meeting (BDM) of the MDCAN
