The University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH) Board of Management has showered encomiums on the hospital’s Chief Medical Director, Prof. Ikpeme Ikpeme, for his innovative policies which have transformed the medical centre into a bastion of health services provision,saying “We are impressed with his performance”.
Speaking to newsmen shortly after inspection of facilities at the hospital, the Board Chairman, Col. Muhammadu Abdu (retired), attributed the developmental strides that have greeted the hospital’s new look to the seamless working relationship between his board and the office of the Chief Medical Director.
Col. Abdu, who described the CMD as “a focused and consummate professional who is poised to improving the status of the institution and a man whose leadership will leave a lasting impressions for others to follow,” also stated that the entire Management Board was impressed with the restorative policies of Prof. Ikpeme.
He applauded the Prof. Ikpeme-led management for the judicious expenditure of the government’s Covid-19 funds, which, he maintained, has given a new perspective of quality and efficient service delivery. He added that the hospital has effectively utilized the funds in standardizing the Infectious Disease Isolation Centre with battery-powered ventilators; Radiology Department with computerized CT Scan machines and digital X-Ray machines; Intensive Care Unit with electrically-controlled air mattresses, and automated operating machines for cardiac surgeries; and the Molecular and Research Laboratory, adding that Covid-19 was indeed a blessing in disguise.
He further pointed out that since the inception of Prof. Ikpeme as CMD, truancy, absenteeism, theft, vandalism, unethical practices and other untoward behaviours hitherto rife in the hospital had become a thing of the past.
He quipped that with the complete overhaul of every facet of the hospital, UCTH has since began to witness high patronage even as far as neighboring Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea; with the medical institution also drastically reducing overseas medical tourism through conduct of high-powered operations like brain and cardiological surgeries.
The Board Chairman informed that the present day UCTH has placed high premium on workers welfare with the completion of the 33-year old 56 suites House Officers Quarters, as well as other incentives for its personnel.
“Prof. Ikpeme has repaid the confidence the Board reposed in him and I can truly state without equivocation that our selection of him three years ago was no a fluke,” Col. Abdu concluded.
Also lending his voice, a Board Member and Provost, College of Medical Sciences, Prof. Victor Ansa, expressed pleasure with the unprecedented transformation and rebranding going on in UCTH, noting that as a training ground for medical professionals, the institution has has displayed commitment to improving standards in infrastructure, equipment and personnel.
The Provost remarked that with the improvement in quality, the College of Medical Sciences has received accreditation for about 23 departments, with just two pending the accreditation committee’s next visit, with increased number of admissions, even from students of other nationalities.
Describing UCTH as “a 21st century medical facility, another Board member and Chairman, Hospital Services Monitoring Committee, Dr. Chris Enoch, said through the visionary leadership of the present CMD, the hospital has tremendously improved its clinical departments, administrative functions and enhanced the overall development of the institution.
He said the the CMD’s giant strides in barely three years have vindicated the Board’s choice of Prof. Ikpeme to catapult UCTH to a teaching hospital, in all standards, that stands at par with the bests within and outside the country.
Articulating his views, head of strategic planning and project monitoring committee, Oluwasegun Omoworare hailed the existing symbiotic relationship between the Board and management of UCTH, an alliance that has yielded immense success in the day-to-day running of the hospital.
Speaking of the plaudits the management and board have received for the prudent use of the Covid-19 funds, the board member remarked that the pandemic as a watershed for a more robust health sector in Nigeria.
In their words, Hon. Raman Dauda and Hon Oluwasegun Omowarere who are also board members, said the new UCTH is a success story and an eloquent testimony to the dogged determination of both the board and management of the hospital. They assured Nigerians that the the present board and management will not renege on their promise to make UCTH a healthcare service provider of international repute.
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