By Sylvia Akpan
Chief Medical Director/CEO of the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Prof. Ikpeme A. Ikpeme has lauded Nigeria LNG Limited for the successful commissioning of the neurosurgical and stroke center.
Prof. Ikpeme also thanked the management of the institution for their commitment and support to ensure the project is actualized.
He shared his thoughts on the neurosurgical and stroke center in a statement made available to our newsroom. His words: “The journey to this destination has taken nearly 2 years; from the first visit of the NLNG team for site inspection and choice of project, through the signing of the MOU, and actual construction; and then onto this commissioning. Throughout this nearly 2- year journey, I would like to thank the NLNG for selecting us among the recipients of the 1st batch for this intervention, and for their patience, tolerance, guidance, and understanding. I would also like to thank the in-house UCTH team and the Contractors for everything they did to actualize this project.”
On the importance of the center, he said: “The decision to construct and equip a Neurosurgical and Stroke Centre was based on inputs from our Department of Internal Medicine as well as our Accident and Emergency Services, which identified Strokes as the most common non-traumatic emergency in our setting. In furtherance of this, numerous academic publications including the Cochrane Database of Systemic Reviews have shown conclusively that more organized stroke care was consistently associated with improved outcomes; and stroke patients who receive organized inpatient care in a Stroke Unit are more likely to be alive, independent and living at home one year after the stroke.
“In 2020, we took a decision to begin the process of becoming a Neurosurgical Centre of Excellence in the South-South Geopolitical zone. Prior to this, a major percentage of Neurosurgical presentations beyond Hydrocephalus and a few other conditions were predominantly referred to a private Neurosurgical service center. I am proud to say that between 2020 and now, no major Neurosurgical case has been referred outside our hospital.”
He added that “This Centre therefore, as small as it looks, with 16 dedicated Unit Beds, 2 Recovery Room beds, one operating Theatre Suite, 3 Consulting Rooms, a Pharmacy, Sleep-in rooms, its own dedicated water supply, and alternative power backup systems, etc., may be our days of small beginnings. But with the in-built plans for future expansion, it encapsulates the hopes and aspirations of our hospital to be at some future date, a Centre of Excellence in Neurosurgery, Interventional Radiology, and minimal access surgery. We are therefore, very thankful to the NLNG for helping us sow this seed; and would like to challenge and encourage other well-endowed individuals and organizations to pick up the challenge the NLNG has thrown and help us along the path of progress. Our people, Community and Nation will be the ultimate winners.”
Thanking those behind the success he said, “To the project implementation Team in particular, we owe you a debt of gratitude. To the Honourable Minister of Health and the Federal Ministry of Health and our Board Chairman and his Board, thank you for your support and leadership and for honoring us with your presence today. Our Royal Fathers and past Management Staff of this hospital have been immense pillars of support and guidance. Thank you.”
He concluded by asserting that the commissioning of the center “is the beginning of bigger dreams and their actualization. May the patients who will be attended to in this facility receive due and holistic care in an environment, and from teams that are soothing, diligent, professionally astute, and empathetic; and may God bless the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital.”