The Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital (UUTH), Prof. Etete Peters, said Thursday that poor funding had undermined the growth of critical components of the hospital.
He said the problem affected most of the projects initiated by his administration as he could not complete some of them.
He also said poor funding had led to the inability of the hospital to purchase consumables in bulk.
“Most of the projects remain at various stages of non-completion because of funding. Because of this, we cannot buy medical consumables in bulk to sell to patients, but we had to resort to revolving loans arrangement to get the supply,” he added.
Peters who will bow out of the system in November this year after completing his two terms of ten years however told journalists in his office in Uyo that he would be leaving behind track records of quality service and physical development of the system.
According to him, the institution had undergone series of reforms and infrastructural expansion never before experienced.
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He explained that UUTH, the only one in the zone, had to go out of its major responsibility as a tertiary healthcare provider to take care of both the primary and secondary health challenges.
“As a tertiary health institution, we can’t begin to restrict patients even with minor ailments,” he said, adding that the problem had led to medical facilities being overstretched.
The professor said the hospital in an attempt to address complex health issues expanded its facilities at the Dialysis centre with standard ones and also installed dictating machines for screening and determination of cancer issues.
During the period, he said his administration had invested heavily in capacity building with the incorporation of over 100 medics to handle various health issues to cope with the influx of patients.
On where he would be after the expiration of his appointment, Peters said “I will return to academics to continue to contribute my quota in the development of the< general health system.”
