University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH).

By Jethro Ibileke

No fewer than 2,100 babies were delivered in the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), in the outgoing year 2024.

The tertiary health institution also attended to about 300,000 patients, performed about 6,300 surgeries across its different theatres, and treated and discharged about 20,000 patients during the year under review.

The Chief Medical Director of UBTH, Prof. Darlington Obaseki, disclosed this on Wednesday at the end-of-the-year party/award night of the Hospital.

He also disclosed that an average of over 1,500 out-patients were attended to on a daily in the Hospital.

“As of today, this year, 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 honor 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 complaint, while we forgot about the over 1,497 or 1,498 that were successfully treated and discharged home,” he said.

The UBTH CMD who noted that staff of the Hospital carried their bodies with grace and dignity, added that it was not an excuse for those performing specific responsibilities to complain of no light, water, syringes and consumables in the Hospital.

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

Obaseki said the occasion was to celebrate a year of remarkable milestones and encourage and honour the exceptional contributions of the staff of the institution, a decision he said was taken by the Hospital management seven years ago.

“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.

“Those that will be recognized today are representatives of the larger work that every one of us does. This year has been particularly challenging for everybody in this country because of the ongoing reforms.

“The economy has been very tough and has been very 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.