UCTH Plans Ahead For COVID-19, Isolation Centre Ready
- Ups ante on emergency
- Solicits support to expand facility

BY UBON EKANEM, CALABAR – Though Cross River State is yet to record any confirmed case of the dreaded coronavirus (COVID-19), the state government and relevant health institutions are not leaving anything to chance in their readiness to check the pandemic outbreak in their domain.
According to some health experts, the high level of preparedness being witnessed is because the South South State remains vulnerable with two of her neighbours, Benue and Akwa Ibom States as well as the Republic of Cameroon, already dealing with cases of the novel virus
Leading the pack of health institutions in the state to demonstrate its level of preparation to tackle the rampaging virus in case of any eventuality is the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, (UCTH) that took journalists on a guided tour of the Isolation Centre (IC), designated for treatment of any patient that may suffer the COVID-19 attack in the State.
Chief Medical Director (CMD) of UCTH, Professor Ikpeme A. Ikpeme, accompanied by other senior management staff led the newsmen to inspect the five rooms’ facility which has four standard Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds and two functional ventilators.
Prof Ikpeme said with assistance from the government, organizations and public-spirited individuals within and outside the State, the Hospital management is desirous to further expand the Centre to at least a 20-bed facility that will also boast of ventilators in equal number.
He said at present, the UCTH Isolation Centre is basically the only facility fully equipped to handle any case of COVID-19 that may arise in the State, and offered special thanks go to Governor Ben Ayade and people of Cross River State “for their interest in ensuring the activation of our Isolation Centre.”
According to the CMD, UCTH’s level of preparedness to handle any possible COVID-19 incident has now been greatly enhanced, saying; “At the beginning of the COVID-19 scare, our Isolation Centre was far from being completed, and still is. We had to mobilize items from within the hospital with donations from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and the Cross River State Government to get four rooms functional including a staff area.
“Currently, we have four (4) functional rooms ready to take in any confirmed case based on the agreed NCDC protocol. Two out of those four (4) rooms are equipped with functional ventilators.
“It is instructive to note that a team was sent from NCDC about two months ago to assess our Isolation Centre and there were many modifications they recommended. We are still awaiting their action as promised.”
“A protocol for the management of any suspected case has been drawn up in accordance with NCDC protocol and this has been activated by our COVID-19 Task Force. This team is a multi-disciplinary team and they are the frontline health workers working with Management to confront this pandemic. The Head of the team is Dr Ubong Udoh, a Clinical Microbiologist”.
Prof Ikpeme further explained that; “The entire staff of UCTH has been briefed on the UCTH COVID-19 protocols through their Heads of Departments/Units as well as their Unions. We have scaled down activities giving room for mainly emergencies and discouraging cold cases being seen at this time.”
“We have been able to fix two of our ventilators and they are now permanently in the Isolation Centre in full working condition. This is however inadequate and more is required. Special mention must here be made of our Biomedical Engineers who rose to the occasion and became heroes at this time of great need.”
Similarly, he said. “Since activation of the Isolation Centre, we have admitted one suspected case but discharged her after about five (5) days admission when her result came out negative for COVID-19. It was indeed a test case because there was so much anxiety and news had gone out in the social media that a positive case was in UCTH.
“I must commend the gallantry of our COVID-19 Task Force and our Emergency staff for daring to rise to the occasion creditably on this case. In fact, this suspected case had her birthday celebrated with her by the Infection Control team and members of Management.”
On whether the hospital has received a donation of ventilator from the Cross River government as claimed in some quarters, the CMD said; “No” but added, “Perhaps, they are in the process, but the ventilators in the hospital are that of the UCTH.”
“We acknowledge donations from some groups and organizations which have gone a long way to assisting us in this fight. Notable amongst them are NCDC, MDCAN, NANNAM (UCTH Branch) Ben Akak Foundation, etc. Despite our modest efforts, a few challenges persist: Lack of PPEs and other consumables; Ventilators; Perimeter fencing for the isolation Centre; Generating set power supply and diesel; Expansion of the Centre by 20 beds.”
“We have engaged Government and private organizations in our resolve to address these challenges”, he said.
The Chairman of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Cross River Council, Comrade Victor Udu, who lead the team on tour of the facility, commended the Hospital management for their efforts in making the Centre functional.
He also lent his voice in appealing to both the federal and state governments as well as public-spirited organizations and individuals to assist the UCTH at this time of global health emergency.