The Chief Medical Director(CMD) of the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH), Prof. Ikpeme Ikpeme, has dismissed as false and misleading allegations of ethnic discrimination in the recruitment of house officers.
Prof. Ikpeme, who spoke during a facility tour of the hospital by journalists weekend, insisted that the institution does not operate any policy targeting any ethnic group, particularly Igbos.
"It is not true that we rejected house officers because they were Igbo. It is not the policy of the hospital and it is not something we do," he said.
The CMD expressed regret over the controversy, noting that the affected applicants never met with him before taking the matter to social media.
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"They had no meeting with me. They probably only got to know me after they did what they did, and yet they wrote that I rejected them because they were Igbo," he stated.
To buttress his point, Prof. Ikpeme highlighted recent gestures affirming the hospital's inclusiveness.
He disclosed that a ward was recently named after an Igbo medical practitioner in recognition of his long service and contributions to the institution.
"You have just seen us name a ward after an Igbo man. I don't think an Igbo-hating Chief Medical Director will name a ward after an Igbo man," he added.
He further noted that the hospital's current Head of Nursing Services is also of Igbo extraction, stressing that appointments and promotions are based strictly on due process and seniority.
Prof. Ikpeme who used the occasion to showcase ongoing transformation at UCTH said, currently, the hospital operates about 38 wards and clinics across its 62 clinical and non-clinical departments, with most facilities remodelled or renovated.
The CMD revealed that the hospital now performs advanced procedures such as hip and knee replacements, brain tumour surgeries, spinal surgeries, and minimally invasive keyhole surgeries.
"We do keyhole surgery. If your appendix is giving you a problem, we can take it out and the following day, we send you home because we've done minimal access surgery," he explained.
He also disclosed that a new Department of Emergency Medicine is under construction to handle rising patient influx. The facility will feature trauma bays, intensive care units, and emergency theatres.
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Prof. Ikpeme affirmed that UCTH serves patients not only from Cross River but also from neighbouring states and countries, including Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea adding that the facility which is an 850 bed capacity hospital caters for over five million patients.
On staff attitude and emergency care, he said management has introduced a reward and disciplinary system to enhance professionalism. He denied claims that emergency patients are turned back for lack of funds.
"For emergencies, we do not insist on payment before treatment," he said.
The CMD commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu's administration and the Federal Ministry of Health for ongoing support, citing the installation of a 1.5 Tesla MRI machine and other infrastructure upgrades running into billions of naira.
