FROM IKHILI EBALU, BENIN CITY
Chief Medical Director, CMD, University of Benin Teaching Hospital, UBTH, Professor Idia Ize-Iyamu, yesterday, pledged to strengthen infrastructure and improve staff welfare in line with President Bola Tinubu’s “Renewed Hope” Agenda to reposition the health sector.
Ize-Iyamu made the pledge when she officially assumed office as the Chief Medical Director of the institution amid cheers and fanfare from members of staff and students at UBTH.
The professor of orthodontics, who is the first female CMD of UBTH, first dentist as CMD and first orthodontist as to hold the office, expressed her dedication to excellence and support the national drive for equitable, cost-effective and reliable healthcare for all Nigerians.
“I am profoundly grateful to President Tinubu for the confidence reposed on me through this appointment. I pledge my total commitment to the “Renewed Hope” Agenda, particularly in the health sector, which seeks to restore faith in public institutions and deliver healthcare that is accessible, affordable and of the highest standard.
“My sincere gratitude also goes to the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Muhammad Ali Pate, for his recommendation and the trust he has placed in me. I assure you of my absolute dedication to excellence and to support the national drive for equitable, cost-effective and reliable healthcare for all Nigerians.” Professor Ize-Iyamu stated.
She noted that the race for the CMD position was not without some challenges and appreciated her colleagues and predecessors, including the immediate past CMD, Professor Darlington Obaseki and those who also contested for the position.
For her predecessors in office, especially Professor Obaseki, she said: “I salute your efforts and sacrifices. Each of you built bridges that brought UBTH to where it stands today. It is now my responsibility to strengthen those bridges and to build new ones toward a future of greatness.”
The new CMD promised to pursue the vision through excellence in clinical care, relentless research and the nurturing of future healthcare leaders. We will cultivate a patient-first culture that measures success by outcomes and experience shorter waiting times, safer surgeries and kinder wards.
” We will renew our infrastructure with purpose- clean water, reliable power, resilient emergency services and environments that heal. We will partner broadly and boldly with the federal government’s “Renewed Hope” Agenda, with Edo State, University of Benin, professional bodies, philanthropists, alumni, industry counterparts and the diaspora, because the problems we face are bigger than one institution, and so are the solutions,” she said.
Ize-Iyamu also assured of improved staff welfare under her watch, saying, “But no CMD, however determined, can achieve this alone. UBTH is not its buildings nor its machines. It is its people, doctors who bring skills, nurses who bring comfort, pharmacists who bring precision, laboratory scientists who bring clarity, administrators who bring order, cleaners who bring purity, students who bring curiosity and patients who bring their trust. If you wear a UBTH badge, you are part of the cure. “
She acknowledge her colleagues, including those who also aspired to this office. Your commitment to UBTH is deeply inspiring and I count on your cooperation and support as we labour together for the progress of our institution.
“Being the first woman to serve as CMD of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, I stand not as an exception, but as an example of what is possible when merit is sought and when opportunity meets with preparedness. I carry this responsibility as a message to every girl-child in Nigeria; there are no ceilings too high, no doors too heavy and no dreams too distant when you strive to excel,” she concluded.
