Otukpo General Hospital to turn teaching hospital soon – Ortom

Gov. Samuel Ortom of Benue said the General Hospital in Otukpo, Benue,  would soon be  upgraded to a teaching hospital  for the  Federal University of Health Sciences located in the town.

Ortom said this on Tuesday in Otukpo Local Government Area of the state while inspecting works on the Isolation Centre located within the hospital premises.

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The governor said that the Federal Government had requested that the facility be released to it, in order to turn it into a teaching hospital for Federal University of Health Sciences.

“We have granted the request and had communicated our willingness to hand over the facility to the Federal Government,” he said.

He also  said that while the state government awaits the take over of the facility by the Federal Government, it would fix all the decayed  infrastructure there .

Ortom also  directed the Medical Officer in-charge of the hospital, Dr Ada Ogwu, to list all the decayed infrastructure  there so that the state government could fix them without delay.

“We want to address the decayed  infrastructure before the Federal Government comes to take over,” he said.

The governor also encouraged the contractor to hasten work on the isolation centre.

He, however, admonished the people against stigmatisation, stressing that people who were having signs of COVID-19  pandemic  should come out, so that their samples could be collected and sent to Nigeria Centere for Disease Control (NCDC) for testing.

Earlier, Dr Ogwu told the governor that the hospital was experiencing a shortage of staff, particularly nurses.

He also listed the challenges of the hospital to include: water-tanker, completion of the laboratory, completion of wards four and five,  and the theatre complex.