The University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH) and the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Harvard Medical School, Boston in United States of America have commenced a 4-day training on advanced endoscopy.
The training is targeted at practitioners in the UCTH Gastroenterology Unit as part of the hospital management’s efforts to strengthen and deliver quality healthcare services to the public.
According to the Head of Corporate Affairs at the UCTH, Roseline Ikpeme said that the aim of the training is to ‘provides expertise for treating gastroenterology-related disorders, both diagnostic and therapeutic.
‘The unit aims to be renowned for delivering quality healthcare services through excellence in clinical care, endoscopy, research, and training. Our strategic focus areas are patient-centered care, knowledge advancement, and human capital development,’ Ikpeme stressed.
According to her, ‘we experts from Texas here training the personnel. In as much as we are focus on delivering advanced services, we a
lso want to provide our patients with affordable access to the quality services we offer.
‘Once this training is complete and the relevant equipment installed, Nigerians and Africans especially those in the West African sub region would not have to spend so much for endoscopy. We are committed to promote the growth and development of doctors and nurses to increase the quality of patient care and collaborate with other units in the hospital for efficient healthcare,’ she further indicated.
Continuing, Ikpeme remarked, ‘in recognition of our contextual and strategic priorities of expanding the scope of gastrointestinal services and endoscopic programmes, we are proud to announce our collaboration with the prestigious Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States of America.’
The Head of the Corporate Affairs department hinted that the long-term goal was to strengthen gastroenterology in Africa by establishing the UCTH endoscopy unit as the region’s training center of exc
ellence.
She explained that early in the year, UCTH held its first advanced endoscopy training programme, which covered didactic sessions and a live procedure, noting ‘the didactic sessions were elaborate, involving seasoned speakers from different continents, who presented topics on medical and surgical gastroenterology, advanced endoscopy, endoscopy nursing, anesthesia, and radiology.’
She said, ‘the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital is Nigeria’s second teaching hospital with an excellent effort to domesticate the ERCP programme and the first with an apparent attempt to establish an endoscopic ultrasound practice in the most populous country in Africa with a population of above 200 million. It is a feat worth celebrating.’
Visionary leadership
The Consultant Gastroenterologist at UCTH, who is also the Director, MGH-UCTH Advanced Endoscopy Team,Dr. Evaristus Chukwudike, in a message, expressed appreciation to the Chief Medical Director, Professor Ikpeme Asante Ikpeme for his leadership.
Chukwudike
stated, ‘we extend our heartfelt thanks to the Chief Medical Director and visionary leader, Professor Ikpeme A. Ikpeme, for his unwavering commitment and determination to domesticate a sustainable advanced endoscopy programme in our institution.
‘We express our gratitude to the other echelons of the Hospital for their massive support and celebrate our GI mentors, Professor Rowland Ndoma-Egba and Professor Ogbu Ngim, for their unalloyed support and commitment to making the programme succeed at UCTH.
‘We sincerely salute the dedication and hard work of the MGH-UCTH Advanced Endoscopy Programme team toward bringing the program to fruition,’ he added.
Source: Voice of Nigeria