FG assures on developing ‘new’ geo-medical field in Nigeria

Minister of Information and Supervising Minister of Defence, Labaran Maku made this assurance in his office, while receiving Medical Geology and Balneology experts from the University of Silesia, Poland on Friday.Maku commended the commitment of the Polish government in establishing linkages with Nigerian Tertiary institutions such as the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria especially in the […]

Minister of Information and Supervising Minister of Defence, Labaran Maku made this assurance in his office, while receiving Medical Geology and Balneology experts from the University of Silesia, Poland on Friday.
Maku commended the commitment of the Polish government in establishing linkages with Nigerian Tertiary institutions such as the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria especially in the area of geology and mining and its new field, Balneology.
Balneology is an emerging field in Nigeria that deals with the study of using water and other earth resources medicinal sources of treatment.
Medical geology alongside balneology are emerging fields that are emerging in West Africa and Nigeria following the graduation of the first Ph.D candidate Dr. Nghargbu K’tso from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria under linkages with the University of Silesia in Poland, last week.
Assuring the Polish geomedical experts of federal government’s commitment to improving the health of Nigerians Maku said, ‘It is a development that would improve the medical field in our country. Balneology is a new field in Nigeria and we believe that Nigeria would be able to buy into the field for the health of our people.”
The Nigerian team leader, Prof. Schoneich Krysztof, a professor of Geology in ABU, Zaria who spoke for the team at the sidelines said the university keyed into the programme having discovered the vast potentials of the country’s geological and mining resources which could be harnessed to improve lives.
He said, “Nigeria has a lot of geomedical resources like Awe warm spring and many others in Nasarawa state. We have decided to come in to see how these resources could be used to attract tourists, spas and also for therapeutic usage.”
In his remarks, Dr. Nghargbu noted that he is the pioneering expert in the new fields of geomedical endeavour in Nigeria and West Africa, adding that such tutelage and expertise will be used to groom more human resources in the field to provide complementary support to the nation’s health sector.
 “Balneology is all encompassing beginning from geology into medicine. We have many warm springs like Ikogosi in Ekiti state and many more but we hardly derive any economic gains.
“We are advocating the bottling of these waters just like it is done in Possotome in Benin Republic as they have been clinically confirmed to have health nutrients and could be used to treat ulcers, toothaches and other health problems,” he said.