LITERATURE, MEDICINE AIM AT SIMILAR OBJECTIVES, PROF. OMOBOWALE SAYS

By: Lolade Olu-Ojegbeje

Professor Babatunde Omobowale, a professor in the department of English, Faculty of Arts, has said that literature and medicine not only complement each other, but also aim at similar objectives.

He made this statement recently, at the 450th inaugural lecture titled: Healing with the Pen: Literature and the quest to Humanize Medical Practice in Nigeria.”

As the first Professor of Literature and Medicine in Nigeria, Prof. Omobowale has been able to explore the interface between literature and medicine. In his words “Since literature is a reflection of life and medicine guarantees physiological and psycho-social equilibrium, …literature and medicine not only complement each other but they also aim at similar objectives….”

While Omobowale also shows how literature can help facilitate the medical practice, he asserted that it is only through humanizing the medical practice that the gap between patients and doctors can be breached.

He also revealed some of the recent and future developments in Medical Humanities in Nigeria. Among the developments is the formation of a bioethics group in 2005 called the West African Bioethics Training Programme, under the leadership of Professor Clement Adebamowo. The group was established to discuss difficult topics relating to Philosophy, African Literature, Law, Bioethics and Medicine, and to also organize workshops for healthcare practitioners in different parts of Nigeria.

Furthermore, another development includes the running of Master of Science Programmes in Bioethics. It is worthy to note that the University of Ibadan now runs MSc programme, which is domiciled in the Department of Surgery and which also received funding from the United States’ National Institute of Health (NIH), Also, the turning of Bioethics programme into an institute gained momentum at the University of Ibadan in the year 2016. And hopefully, an Institute of Bioethics and the Medical Humanities would be established in the University of Ibadan.

He concluded the lecture by saying that the bane of development in Nigeria which is poor leadership can only be combated through the regeneration of good leadership which is projected in his creative works such as Seasons of Rage (1997), and The Eagle Must Fly and Other Stories. (1992).