By Sade Adewale, Ondo

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The University of Medical Sciences, (UNIMED) Ondo City, Ondo State is to partner with the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) on the prospects and application of space science and technology.
This came to the fore during the meeting of members of the agency led by the Director of NASRDA, Prof. Babatunde Rabiu and his team to the Vice-Chancellor of the University at his Akure campus office.
The Vice-Chancellor, University of Medical Sciences (UNIMED), Ondo, Prof. Adesegun Fatusi noted that telemedicine is gaining more prominence in the wake of the COVID- 19 pandemic.
He said the use of telemedicine will help the university in reducing the burden of diseases in the society and will go a long way in projecting the image of the University.
Prof. Rabiu proposed a conference for space science and technology in Medicine for the first quarter of 2021 saying a draft announcement has been sent to the Vice-Chancellor for his input and recommendations.
‘One of NASRDA’s goals is to popularise telehealth, which can be on a big or small scale, to address public healthcare needs with an emphasis on rural communities’, Rabiu stated.
The NASRDA team and the University Management team also deliberated on the potentials of Laboratory Space Station Research experiments which can be incorporated into interdisciplinary research such as human research, space medicine, life and physical sciences among others.
They also highlighted the advantages of Geographic Information System (GIS) in relation to a bio-healthcare system which helps in mapping out epidemic and pandemic centres and generating statistics and database on health.