UCH Ibadan is overcrowded and overwhelmed – Chief Medical Director, Jesse Otegbayo cries out

The University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Oyo State, has cried out over the influx of patients into the hospital due to the inability of other primary and secondary healthcare facilities to meet up with the required standards. 

The Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Prof. Jesse Otegbayo, made this known while speaking with journalists in Ibadan to begin the celebration of his first 100 days in office.

Otegbayo said the burden of healthcare delivery needed to be taken away from tertiary hospitals to primary and secondary healthcare facilities so as to allow doctors focus on their area of specialisation.

HE SAID:  ”UCH IS OVERSUBSCRIBED AND OVERWHELMED. MOST OF THE STATE GOVERNMENTS HAVE NEGLECTED THE SECONDARY TIER OF HEALTHCARE SUCH THAT THESE HOSPITALS HAVE NO ACCREDITATION NEEDED TO TRAIN EVEN THE LOWEST CADRE OF DOCTORS, WHICH ARE THE HOUSE OFFICERS.

LOW CONFIDENCE IN THE QUALITY OF CARE PROVIDED BY PRIMARY AND SECONDARY HEALTHCARE FACILITIES, HAVE PUSHED PATIENTS TO SEEK GENERAL OUTPATIENT SERVICES FROM TERTIARY HOSPITALS.

THIS HAS EFFECTIVELY OVERCROWDED THE HOSPITAL AND OVERBURDENED OUR WORKERS. WE ARE CALLING ON STATE GOVERNMENTS TO STRENGTHEN THE GENERAL HOSPITALS WHICH FORM THE LARGER PART OF THE SECONDARY TIER OF HEALTHCARE DELIVERY.”