PAMO University of Medical Sciences (PUMS), Port Harcourt, says about 600 current Rivers State Government scholarship students could be affected by any disruption to their medical education arising from its ongoing dispute with the Rivers State House of Assembly.
The university, in a public notice signed by its Registrar, Peter I. Akubuiroh, Esq., said it had avoided escalating the dispute because of the potential impact on the students and their families.
PAMO said it had continued to keep the students on campus for the past four months despite outstanding school-fee payments, while bearing the costs of their tuition, feeding, accommodation and related expenses.
According to the university, the Rivers State Ministry of Education has served as the supervising body for the scholarship scheme since its inception and holds records of transactions, agreements and dealings between the state government and the university.
PAMO said it had fulfilled every obligation contained in the Memorandum of Understanding governing the scholarship arrangement.
The university explained that as a private institution, neither the Rivers State Government nor the House of Assembly appropriates funds directly to it.
It said appropriations for the state’s scholarship obligations are made to the Ministry of Education or other relevant government ministries, departments or agencies, which meet the fees of eligible students.
PAMO said the scholarship scheme had enabled Rivers State students to access medical education that might otherwise have been beyond their families’ means.
The university stated that students had graduated through the collaboration in Medicine and Surgery, Nursing Science, Medical Laboratory Science, Radiography, Pharmacology, Physiology, Anatomy and Biochemistry.
It added that students remain enrolled across the programmes and that the first Doctor of Physiotherapy students are expected to graduate in due course.
The university further stated that graduates had completed their programmes on schedule and that all its programmes hold full accreditation from the relevant regulatory bodies.
