UBTH attends to 300,000 patients in 2024 – CMD

The University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) says it has so far attended to about 300,000 patients in 2024.

Darlington Obaseki, a professor and chief medical director of the hospital, disclosed this at the hospital’s 2024 Christmas Concert and Award Night in Benin city.

Obaseki said that about 2,100 births were delivered in the hospital in 2024. He said that the occasion was organised to encourage, celebrate a year of remarkable milestones and honour the exceptional contributions of staff of the institution.

He added that the health institution had in the year attended to about 300,000 patients, performed about 6,300 surgeries across different theatres in the hospital, while about 20,000 patients were treated and discharged.

The Chief Medical Director UBTH, also disclosed that an average of over 1500 outpatients were attended to, daily by the hospital.

“As of today, about 300,000 patients have been attended to. We did about 6,300 surgeries across the different theatres in the hospital. We treated and discharged about 20,000 patients from our wards, and we took delivery of about 2,100 births. As we speak people are still delivering. So, it is a lot of work and tonight we are here to honour those who do these works.

“We see over 1500 outpatients on average daily. Out of the number maybe two or three may have issues that become a point of complaints, while we forgot about the over 1497 or 1498 that were successfully treated and discharged home,” he said.

Obaseki, while noting that staff of the hospital carried their duties with grace and dignity, added that it was not an excuse for those performing specific responsibilities to complaints of no light, water, syringes and consumables in the hospital.

“You cannot take that as an excuse that there is no light in UBTH, because for us that equates to somebody dying.

“For water supply, they are always on. They are basic, but in Nigeria, they are difficult to achieve.

“The supply of consumables, you cannot say you come to UBTH there is no syringe or no drugs to give to the patient,” he added.

He said that the decision to encourage staff by celebrating and rewarding them yearly was taken about seven years ago, by the management of the hospital.

“We the management decided when we came on board seven years ago that we will want to rebrand this hospital. I don’t know how many persons remembered then how this hospital was perceived by the larger community.

“We have decided that we will encourage our staff in every way possible by picking out some of them to be honoured and rewarded annually.

“The economy has been tough and hard for our staff to get to work. So, it is not too much for us to say thank you to the nurses, pharmacists, medical lab scientists, accountants, doctors, house officers, and interns among others.

“Thank you for a job well done, thank you for the last year and we are hoping that you will do more. That is why we are here today,” he stated.