Bassey Inyang in Calabar
The management of the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH) has described as false reports making the rounds that three new born babies and valuables were stolen by armed robbers in the hospital last Sunday.
Addressing a press conference at the hospital yesterday, the management of the hospital said such report which alleged that robbers invaded the Paediatric unit of the hospital and stole babies never happened, saying the report is false and a figment of the imagination of the writers.
Chief Medical Director of UCTH, Professor Thomas Agan, while addressing journalists stated that the news is a blatant lie and such information is inimical not just to the hospital but to the entire country.
“I want to tell the world, and indeed everyone who is watching that indeed it is a blatant lie aimed at disparaging the hospital and the management of the hospital. Truth is that it has never happened and it will not happen.
“It is true that there are some security challenges nationwide, there is no where that we do not have security challenges in this country. When I was called, I put a call to the head of Pediatric Department to tell me whether this thing happened and they said it never happened and I said its better we tell the world because this type of journalism is not only inimical to the hospital but to the entire country. I do not know the source from which this person got the information.
“That report is totally false because in terms of security, the Department of State Services patrol here on regular basis, Operation Skolombo is mandated to work here. It is true that because of the non-release of funds for out-sourced services, the out-sourced services have not been functioning properly, but that does not mean that security is zero. As far as this story is concerned it is a lie and very disheartening”, Agan said.
Also speaking, the President of the Association of Resident Doctors, UCTH, Dr. Antigha Cobham said he was on call duty and no incident of such happened throughout his duty tour at the hospital.
Cobham said as a staff of the pediatrics department he went round the unit after he heard rumour over the incident, he and all members of staff went round the unit , and made enquiries , but were told no such incident.
“Early this morning it came to our notice that there was an online publication that was making the rounds and had gone so viral that at some point we at the resident doctors had to reach out to our superiors to find out if it has gone to their notice.
“As a staff of the pediatrics I had to go round all the wards to find out if any of these incidents had happened the previous night. In the Sunday mentioned in the report, I happened to be on call duty and nothing of such had taken place, and I had to get across to the management of the university that this was a misrepresentation of facts and we need to bring this to the knowledge of the public that nothing of this nature happened at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital”, Cobham said.
Head of the Pediatrics department, Dr. Eyong Komomo, said the unit met with all members of staff, and patients in the unit and they confirmed that nothing happened.
“The story we read on the social media is not true. So, we have to let the world know that what we heard is not true. No baby is missing and there was no robbery incident,” he said.
