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  • Mental health: Group, UBTH seek support for patients

    Mental health: Group, UBTH seek support for patients

    Chief Medical Director of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Prof. Idia Ize-Iyamu, has called for the integration of mental health care into services offered at Primary Health Centres across Edo State.

    Also, founder of Starburg Empowerment Foundation, Gloria Bakare, said it was time to remind the world that mental health care remained a universal human right.

    Prof. Ize-Iyamu and Bakare spoke separately on the occasion to mark the World Mental Health Day.

    Bakare called on Nigerians to be their brother’s keeper so that depression or suicidal thoughts could be erased from the community.

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    Prof. Ize-Iyamu said she would continue her advocacy for quality mental health care.

    According to her, “Even in times of crisis, disaster or pain, every mind deserves care, love and support.

    “Many people out there are suffering. Many people out there don’t know who to talk to. Some are depressed. Some are traumatised. Some, they are feeling anxiety. That is why with Starburg, we are taking it upon ourselves to make sure we reach out to those people so that drug coping will cease from society.

  • First female UBTH CMD assumes office

    First female UBTH CMD assumes office

    First female Chief Medical Director of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), Professor Idia Ize-Iyamu, on Monday, assumed duty with a promise to do things that would make President Bola Tinubu proud.

    Prof. Ize-Iyamu, who was received by jubilant staff of the institution, promised to improve on the positive status of the institution.

    She spoke after the immediate past CMD, Prof. Darlington Obaseki, handed over to her.

    Professor Obaseki commended the hospital community for the warm reception given to Ize-Iyamu

    “You are a history maker, you are the first female CMD in the history of UBTH. You are the first dentist to the CMD in the history of UBTH. These I believe are the first of many firsts you will achieve as you begin your tenure as the head of this hospital.”

    Prof. Ize-Iyamu appealed to the staff to cooperate with her to make UBTH great even as she pledged to strengthen healthcare infrastructure and improve staff welfare.

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    The Professor of Orthodontics pledged her total commitment to the “Renewed Hope” Agenda, particularly in the health sector, which she said, sought to restore faith in public institutions and deliver accessible healthcare that is affordable and of the highest standard.

    She said, “Each of you built bridges that brought UBTH to where it stands today. It is now my responsibility to strengthen those bridges and to build new ones toward a future of greatness.

    “We shall pursue this vision through excellence in clinical care, relentless research, and the nurturing of future healthcare leaders. We will cultivate a patient-first culture that measures success by outcomes and experience- shorter waiting times, safer surgeries, and kinder wards.

    “We will renew our infrastructure with purpose- clean water, reliable power, resilient emergency services, and environments that heal. We will partner broadly and boldly with the Federal Government’s “Renewed Hope” Agenda, with Edo State, with the University of Benin, with professional bodies, philanthropists, alumni, industry counterparts, and the diaspora, because the problems we face are bigger than any one institution, and so are the solutions”, she said.

  • UBTH plans mass burial for 270 unclaimed bodies

    UBTH plans mass burial for 270 unclaimed bodies

    • Gives 6-week ultimatum

    The University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) is set to conduct a mass burial for 270 unclaimed bodies if not claimed within the next six weeks.

    Coordinator, Mortuary Services of the hospital, Dr Ehizogie Adeyemi,  stated this yesterday in an interview with reporters in Benin.

    Adeyemi gave the breakdown of the bodies as 201 infants and 69 adults, noting that the hospital had given a six-week ultimatum to the relatives  of the bodies to claim them.

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    The coordinator said the bodies of the 201 infants had been in the hospital since last year while that of the 69 adults were there between April 2021 and December 2022.

    She said the contact addresses and phone numbers provided by those who brought the bodies were no longer reachable or valid.

    She added that at the expiration of the ultimatum, the hospital would give a mass burial for the unclaimed ones if those who brought them failed to claim them.

  • UBTH boosts older persons care with hands-on training for caregivers

    UBTH boosts older persons care with hands-on training for caregivers

    Following the successful completion of a rigorous three-week training programme, 68 dedicated Elder Care Aides (ECAs) have been equipped with essential skills, thanks to the collaborative efforts of experts from Nigeria, the United Kingdom, and the United States. This training initiative was a pivotal component of the joint celebration of the 2023 International Day of Older Persons and the National Day of Older Persons, organised by the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH).

     During the graduation ceremony, Prof. Darlington Obaseki, the Chief Medical Director of UBTH, announced the institutionalisation of this training programme. He emphasised its significance in ensuring the provision of crucial services to older persons, highlighting the hospital’s commitment to becoming a premier learning and training centre in the West Africa sub-region. Prof. Obaseki also revealed plans to elevate the training for Elder Care Aides into a full-fledged diploma course, aligning with UBTH’s vision of continuous excellence.

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     The training initiative stems from UBTH’s Elder Friendly Hospitals Initiative (ELDFRHI), a groundbreaking effort launched in March 2020 by the then Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, who pledged its national adoption. Addressing the pressing challenges faced by older persons (aged 60 years and above) in accessing quality care in Nigeria, Prof. Obehi Akoria, the Programme facilitator and lead faculty, stressed the importance of adopting a lifecourse approach to aging. She underscored the necessity for society to implement primary, secondary, and tertiary interventions, emphasising the significance of multi-sectoral, multipronged strategies in addressing the diverse needs of older individuals. This holistic approach, she stated, is fundamental to ensuring successful aging for the older population in Nigeria.

     “We can only do so much in our hospitals, but we can achieve a lot more if we take our campaign for a life course approach to successful ageing to households. The novel Ageing Friendly Households Initiative (AGEFRHI) is thus designed to take the message of successful ageing to households so that while we are working from the hospital end to make hospitals more elder friendly, using UBTH as a pilot, we are taking the campaign of making households ageing friendly to our communities, getting people to be aware that they can contribute better to how well they age.The newly certified ECAs will be ambassadors of the AGEFRHI campaign and the lifecourse approach to successful (healthy) ageing as propounded by the World Organisation, Prof. Akoria said.

  • Paediatrician to mothers: stop throwing, shaking babies at bathe time

    A Paediatric neurologist, Dr Okunola Olusola, has warned mothers to stop throwing their newborn to the air, during bathe time, in order not to injure the baby’s head and neck.

    Olusola of the Paediatric Department, University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), Benin gave the warning in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Tuesday in Lagos.

    According to him, some babies are known to have died as a result throwing and shaking during bathe.

    “Mothers should stop this act of throwing, tossing and shaking their babies because accident can happen and they will have themselves to blame.

    “It is a risky act because the baby can be injured in the process; the child can fall and injure the head or break the neck, depending on how forceful the person throws the child.

    “Secondly, it confers zero advantage to the baby; it does not improve the baby’s physical nor improve mental well-being.

    “It is just a tradition that has no scientific basis but full of challenges. So, mothers should stop it.,’’ Olusola said.

    He described the act as “not a sensible practice’’, adding that tossing babies to the air was never beneficial to babies and would not strengthen their reflexes.

    According to him, if it is beneficial, babies should be tossed until they grow old enough.

    The paediatrician also said that babies did not need special exercises as they were always full of activities, adding that as they grew older, they played; and play was a form of exercise.

    Olusola, who is also the Deputy Director of World Safety Organisation, also urged mothers to apply the safer ways to please their babies.

    “The best way mothers can care and please their babies is by either breastfeeding or petting the baby when he or she is crying or even back the baby.

    “ Any other thing is really not needed; Just handle a baby in a normal manner, don’t try to exercise the baby, children and babies exercise themselves by themselves.

    “They kick their hands and legs and they twist their bodies.’’

    The medical practitioner stressed that babies who had particular need for exercises were those that suffered brain injury.

    He said that babies who had injuries in the brain, usually their bodies would become stiff as a result.

    He said such babies experienced “physiotherapy or occupational therapy’’ which according to him are forms of special exercises to relax and prevent their joints from being stiff.

  • ‘UBTH rejected my brother with monkey pox’

    A relative of a suspected monkey pox patient has said that his brother was on Monday refused admission into the University of Benin Teaching Hospital.

    The relative, who pleaded for anonymity, said he was shocked to read in the papers that the hospital admitted a patient in the isolated centre created for possible monkey pox outbreak.

    “I read reports of a suspected monkey pox  patient admitted to UBTH with surprise.

    “For the record, when we took our brother there on Monday, we were driven away by some medical personnel at the Accident and Emergency Ward on account that they don’t have facilities to cater for monkey pox patients.

    “So, I have this question for UBTH management: Is it our brother that they chased away that is now in its facility receiving treatment.

    “Except, of course, they have another patient over there. And if we are to go by that, would they have rejected my brother on Tuesday on account of no facility and admitted another in their supposed monkey pox isolated complex?” he queried.

    But UBTH’s Public Relations Officer Mr. Uwaila Joshua, said the information about a rejected patient was strange to the hospital management.

    Uwaila stated that the management is not aware that any patient with possible monkey pox disease was rejected..

    He said there was no tension at the hospital owing to the report of a patient with monkey pox being admitted at the hospital.

    “Nobody is evacuating anybody. I don’t know whose purpose that is being served. The whole place is clam. Everything is normal.”

  • No admission of new patients in UBTH

    The strike action embarked upon by National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has started taking its toll on patients as those seeking urgent medical attention at the University of Benin Teaching were turned back at the hospital’s accident and emergency unit.

    The hospital, it was gathered, stopped receiving patients on Monday, when the strike began.

    A security personnel at the hospital, who confirmed this to The Nation, said many patients, who came to the hospital, were told to go elsewhere.

    Activities at the Accident and Emergency Unit were low as only two patients were seen around.

    Other beds were empty even though nurses were seen on duty.

    The patients said they were attended to by some doctors.

    As at press time, the hospital management was yet to begin discharging patients already on admission at the hospital.

    The hospital’s Chief Medical Director, Dr. Darlington Obaseki, told The Nation in an interview that arrangements have been put in place for the patients to get medical attention throughout the period of the strike.

    NARD President in UBTH Dr. Oseghale Eustace said his members complied with the strike since it was a national directive.

  • UBTH heal thyself

    In these days when calls for true federalism comes across as part cry, part catcall and part cacophony, we tend to forget that it is all about fairness. Relatively obscure institutions play out this drama with such resonant intimacy than bigger pictures cannot convey.

    One of such is the battle to become the next medical director of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) located in Benin City, Edo State.

    Depending on what reports you accept, at least 11 persons were in the running for the position of the top medic of the hospital. Two things though have been lost in the theatre that seeming more absurd and sully by the week. One, the UBTH is a federal institution but it is being regarded as though it is not.

    Two, although it is a federal institution, it was set in the days of the late Osaigbovo Ogbemudia when he was governor of the old Bendel State. This means that if it is a federal institution, it targeted the peoples who inhabited the area covered by Bendel State. Today, that will be Edo State and Delta State.

    As the stakes ramped up for the top job, it appears the Benin in UBTH is looking like Bini. It seems the federal institution has been ethnicised. Now, in the shortlist there are three names, all from Edo State. At least two names stand out that are not from Edo State. They include Professor Gabriel Ofovwe who was deputy medical director under the previous prime medic of the institution. The other is Professor Anthony Okonkwo.

    The three shortlisted candidates are Professor Sylvester Idogun, Cashmir Omuemu and Darlington Obaseki. Rather look at it as broad swath for good talent, the politics has been so ethnicised that it is seen as a battle between Edo North and Edo Central. Professor Idogun is touted as the Edo North offering, while Omuemu and Obaseki duel as icons of Edo South.

    If UBTH was set up for as a federal service for a particular area, why is the original dream sacrificed for insular tigers. This is a corruption of the concept of federalism. But then it is a federal institution, and it should be treated as such. Professor Ofovwe is from Delta State. He was the deputy and most senior of all vying for the post.  He was not allowed a second term as chairman advisory committee and director of clinical services and training. The board, in its devious wisdom, edged him out and within two months gave the position to Obaseki and then made him acting MD.

    Hardball wants to know what the others have over Ofovwe. Dr. Obaseki is an associate professor. Hardball will really want to know why it should not suspect nepotism when the cousin of the governor becomes the acting CDM and goes against the management protocol that says those in top management should not vie for the position. Yet, he is not a full professor.

    Is he lining up for the job because he is Obaseki and he is from Edo South? This is a violation of the trust, especially the moral trust behind the founding of UBTH. Even if he does not win, a dirty cloud overhangs the process. Hardball believes that the process is, ab initio, corrupt and indefensible. Those who shortlisted should rethink. As Hardball noted earlier, it is a federal institution, and not Bini enclave. What is fair is fair.

    UBTH should now hear what Jesus said, “physician heal thyself.” UBTH heal thyself.

  • Fire victim dies in UBTH due to doctors’ strike

    Fire victim dies in UBTH due to doctors’ strike

    A fire victim patient at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Margaret Edobor, has died due to the strike action by members of Association of Resident Doctors.

    Margaret was admitted at the hospital a month after she had a fire accident and when doctors allegedly refused to attend to her after the strike action commenced, the wound got infected.

    Elder brother of the deceased, Mr. Sunday Ogbewe, said her late sister was already responding to treatment before the strike started.

    Sunday stated that he begged the doctors to attend to her but they insisted that they were on strike.

    His words, “She had a fire accident and she was admitted here (UBTH). When the strike started, there was no doctor so she contracted an infection.”

    “It very painful. I have been crying . She is gone. When it happened, I even called some doctors to attend to her. But they said no.

    “They (doctors) should have human feeling. Not all doctors are pagans.”

    The strike has grounded medical services in the hospital.

    President of ARD, UBTH chapter, Dr. Owen Omorogbe, said the strike was a national directive in protest of the non-payment of some of their financial entitlements.

    According to him, only a small percentage of their salaries had been paid since January, 2014.

    Owen said, “Most of the work in this hospital (UBTH) and in most teaching hospitals are done by resident doctors. So, when we withdraw our services, we expect that it will have a toll on the populace.

    “It is a painful decision that was informed by several means of dialogue and advocacy. We are well aware of the pain it has brought to the people of Edo State.”

    He added, “We appeal to them to understand that what we are trying to do is to seek a definite solution to all these perennial problems entitlements.”

     

     

  • Doctors, nurses quarantined as Lassa fever kills patient

    Doctors, nurses quarantined as Lassa fever kills patient

    Some doctors, nurses and auxiliary staff of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital have been quarantined after a patient was confirmed to have died of Lassa Fever.

    Other hospital staff who had contact with the patient were also quarantined for close monitoring of symptoms of the hemorrhagic disease.

    The patient reportedly died three hours after a surgical operation was performed before he was diagnosed of having Lassa Fever.

    It was gathered that the patient was rushed to the hospital after complaining of appendicitis.

    He was said to be on a visit to Nigeria to attend his mother’s funeral at Ekpoma, Esan West Local Government Area.

    Confirming the incident, Chief Medical Director of UBTH, Prof. Michael Ibadin, said there was no cause for alarm as according to him, the hospital management maintained professionalism in handling the case.

    Prof. Ibadin said the patient died three hours after surgical operation and stressed that all personnel involved in providing care for the victim have all been taken care of according to standard as determined by international best practices.

    According to him, “The victim an adult male patient who was visiting from his base abroad had a typical presentation of abdominal pain. History of fever was not volunteered initially. The suspicion of Lassa fever was entertained when following surgery he had uncontrolled bleeding. He has since passed on.”

    State Commissioner for Health, Dr. (Mrs.) Aihianuwa Eregie, said she was not aware of the incident.

    “No, no, no, I don’t have this information but I will confirm to know if the death was caused by Lassa Fever,” she said.