Varsity Expresses Determination To Break New Medical Grounds THE University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) on Thursday said it was determined to break new medical grounds with the array of its 186 consultants. Prof. Michael Ibadin, the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the hospital, told newsmen in Benin that “we are expanding the scope of health care in UBTH’’. Ibadin, recently re-appointed for a second term, said that at the last count in four years, the hospital management had sent 22 doctors and 12 other health workers abroad for further training. “The essence is that these personnel can develop new areas of medicine and healthcare,’’ he said. Ibadin said the institution experienced several medical breakthroughs during his first tenure, including the “stem cell transplant’’, being the only one in Nigeria and second in Africa after Egypt. “But for me, the most significant breakthrough is my investment in human resources which I consider far more important. “Investment in humans can never be too much,’’ he said. Ibadin explained that his vision for the institution “is one that will make UBTH a place where we would have broken all new grounds in the three aspects of health care, research and training”. “I want UBTH to become one of the most outstanding health institutions in Africa where you can adequately be catered for rather than going abroad to seek for medical solution. “One of the institution’s greatest challenges just now is to extend what we are doing in the area of renal (kidney) transplant.” He said though the management had trained people separately in the area, “we have realised that there is a missing link. “We already have a transplant surgeon; a transplant physician; a transplant nurse and an intensivist (physician who specialises in the care and treatment of patients in intensive care). “And, that missing link is to get the entire team sent abroad for three months to be trained together as a complete team on kidney transplant. “We hope we will be able to do that before the end of 2013 after which we will throw our doors open because it is not in our interest to keep sending people abroad because the capital flight is much. “We also hope to reduce the cost of a transplant from about N6 million in India, being the cheapest around the world, to about N2.5 million here in UBTH. “UBTH already has about 42 consultants who are specialists in quite different new areas of research and health care. “Some of these are: Neuro-Ophthalmology (aspect of brain care), and geriatrics (taking care of the aged),” Ibadin said.
Posted on: Sat, 06 Jul 2013 10:05:18 +0000
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