UCTH Upgrades Facilities For High-Quality Medical Services
BY UBON EKANEM, CALABAR – In its resolve to become an epitome of high-quality health care services delivery, the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH) has upgraded and installed state-of-art medical equipment and facilities.
The UCTH’s new status is a result of the Federal Government’s innovative approach to health care funding based on the COVID-19 pandemic fund.
Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Professor Ikpeme A Ikpeme, attributed the feat to the government’s proactive approach to effective health care delivery arising from the traumatic experience of the pandemic and the need to assure the people that its much-vaunted rejuvenation of the health sector was not a mere gimmick.
He said the fund was released to all tertiary medical institutions across the country for the upgrading and provision of state-of-the-art medical equipment and facilities, including the retraining of medical personnel, especially in critical areas of need.
Conducting newsmen round facilities within the medical complex, Prof Ikpeme also praised the Federal Government for taking such a bold initiative to boost and sustain high-quality health care delivery in the country.
According to him, worthy of note is the electronically powered ten-bed Intensive Care Unit (ICU), a department that has each bed fitted with an airbag mattress, television monitor, and other high-tech medical equipment meant for the comfort and speedy recovery of patients.
Other facilities inspected include an ultra-modern air-conditioned cardiac theatre complete with an automated cardiac surgery machine and the Radiology unit that is now fitted with ultrasound computer-moderated dialysis equipment meant for early detection and treatment of breast cancer.
After inspecting the newly completed Infectious Diseases Isolation Centre (IDIC), the CMD urged the media to assist in enlightening the public on the UCTH’s new status as the best and the ultimate destination for patients who desire affordable but high-quality health care delivery services through medical experts in various fields of medical practice.
Commenting on the disturbing trend of brain drain by doctors, Prof Ikpeme said the issue is an age-long phenomenon whereby experts in different fields of human endeavor migrate to seek for what they regard as ‘greener pastures.’