{"id":355335,"date":"2026-05-18T03:05:51","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T02:05:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/?p=355335"},"modified":"2026-05-17T20:24:45","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T19:24:45","slug":"850-bed-ucth-overstretched-services-5m-patients-cmd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/?p=355335","title":{"rendered":"850-bed UCTH overstretched,\u00a0services 5m patients \u2013 CMD"},"content":{"rendered":"
The Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH), Prof. Ikpeme Ikpeme, has said the 850-bed hospital is overstretched, as it currently serves over five million patients.<\/div>\n
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He disclosed this on Friday during a media tour of the facility to showcase ongoing renovations and facelift in the hospital.<\/div>\n
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The CMD noted that, aside being the only tertiary healthcare facility servicing the state, UCTH also serviced neighbouring states of Akwa Ibom and Ebonyi.<\/div>\n
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He said the hospital also received referrals from neighbouring countries, including Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and Central African Republic.<\/div>\n
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According to him, the 850-bed hospital faced persistent space constraints because of increasing patients inflow and expanding healthcare demands.<\/div>\n
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\u201cThis hospital currently operates 62 clinical and non-clinical departments as well as\u00a0 between 30 and 38 wards covering medical, surgical, paediatric, orthopaedic and specialised services.<\/div>\n
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\u201cMost wards have undergone facelift, remodelling, or complete renovation to improve patient care and working conditions for healthcare professionals”, he said.<\/div>\n
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He disclosed that the hospital was constructing a new 106-bed emergency medicine facility to address the rising demand for healthcare services.<\/div>\n
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According to him, the facility will include trauma bays, intensive care units, neonatal wards, and three fully equipped trauma theatres.<\/div>\n
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Speaking on the remodeled wards, Ikpeme explained that they followed modern nursing principles, allowing one nurse to attend to a maximum of 10 patients.<\/div>\n
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He said relatives would be restricted to designated waiting areas to reduce interference with medical procedures and improve emergency response efficiency.<\/div>\n
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The CMD noted that the hospital had strengthened specialist services in orthopaedics, neurosurgery, obstetrics, radiology, and minimally invasive surgery.<\/div>\n
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\u201cUCTH now performs hip and knee replacements, arthroscopy, sports medicine, and complex brain tumour surgeries.<\/div>\n
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\u201cOur surgeons also conduct keyhole procedures for appendectomy, hysterectomy and other conditions with faster patient recovery periods,\u201d he said<\/div>\n
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In power, the CMD said the hospital relied on solar power from a seven-megawatt plant, constructed by the Federal Government at the University of Calabar, as well as public power supply, and generators to sustain its operations.<\/div>\n
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He appealed to governments, organisations, and philanthropists to support infrastructure expansion, equipment procurement, and specialised healthcare projects.<\/div>\n
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The CMD said the hospital required additional incubators, ward expansions, and a stand-alone amenity facility for private healthcare services.<\/div>\n
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He used the opportunity to dismiss allegations of ethnic discrimination, insisting that the hospital does not reject workers or patients based on tribe or origin.<\/div>\n
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According to him, the institution recently honoured an Igbo pioneer physician by naming a ward after him in recognition of decades of service.<\/div>\n
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The CMD said the hospital maintained strict disciplinary procedures to address negligence, poor attitude, and unethical conduct among staff.<\/div>\n
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The Tide’s source reports that some of the units visited include, intensive care unit, Department of Radiology, Urology Clinic, and Opthalmology Clinic.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH), Prof. Ikpeme Ikpeme, has said the 850-bed hospital is overstretched, as it currently serves over five million patients. He disclosed this on Friday during a media tour of the facility to showcase ongoing renovations and facelift in the hospital. The CMD noted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67315,"featured_media":355364,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-355335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-niger-delta"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/67315"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=355335"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355335\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":355388,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355335\/revisions\/355388"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/355364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=355335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=355335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=355335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}