Dr Innocent Abang, Chairman Medical Advisory Committee (CMAC) of the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH) has disclosed that the new emergency unit of the hospital will be state-of-the-art.
Abang made the assertion on Thursday during a facility tour by journalists on some innovations and and renovations in the hospital, championed by the Chief Medical Director (CMD), Dr Ikpeme Ikpeme.
The CMAC said the new emergency unit which was under construction was designed to handle all kinds of emergencies, medicine, surgery, obstetrics, gynecology and pediatrics, all in one location with the right equipment.
READ ALSO: Anambra guber: Northern motorcycle operators endorse Soludo for second term
“We have acquired a 1.5 Tesla Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine that is fully functional, only few hospitals in Nigeria can boast of this; so, imaging services on the MRI are done easily and efficiently.
“You can also see our new Intensive Care Unit (ICU) which is state of the art, with almost all the machines automated, while in obstetrics and gynecology, we are now doing minimally invasive procedures, including laparoscopic appendectomies.
“We have enhanced orthopedic services as we now repair anterior cruciate ligaments and also carry out arthroplasty, there is also knee and hip replacements, and we are working toward shoulder replacements as well,” he said.
Speaking further, he said in the past, there were numerous complaints regarding overcrowding but was now a thing of the past as we now work strictly by timed appointments.
He noted that before, people just walked in without understanding the process but now, appointments are given because as a tertiary hospital, patients must be scheduled to see specialists, this has improved service and curbed overcrowding.
He said as a hospital, they were also enforcing attitudinal change of workers through frequent seminars, professional ethics, and awareness to the legal consequences of negligence, adding that SERVICOM contact are placed at different locations to receive complaints.
“On power supply, we currently run on solar energy, a Federal Government initiative that provides 24 hours electricity, in split seconds after an outage, power is restored.
“We have closely followed the CMD’s mission and if you had visited this place about six years ago and you are here today, you will notice remarkable changes because whenever patients and staff buy into a vision, it is easier to achieve,” he maintained.
On her part, the UCTH Librarian Dr Kikayo Ayanlade, said with the help of the CMD, the hospital’s medical library has been upgraded from a normal to a fully functional e-library which has over 75 million e-books and is used for different Computer Based Tests (CBT).
According to her, the new library which is registered on all medical databases and journals across all fields of medicine for different researches has a reference room, reprographic room and a relaxation centre for readers.
Similarly, the journalists were taken to the Department of Family Medicine where they were taken round by the Head of Department, Dr Udeme Asibong showcasing the renovation works that has taken place and the ongoing work in its other section.
“A lot of work has been done here right from the new bullet-proof front door to the pay point with the air conditioners and Internet services all to make the patients more comfortable,” Asibong noted.
