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UniPort Gets COVID-19 Treatment Centre

By Letom Nnen

In its contribution to winning the war against the dreaded COVID-I 19 pandemic that is ravaging the world, the University of Port Harcourt has provided a centre for the treatment of the disease in case of any eventuality. The Centre is located in the premises of the International Students' Centre, University Park. Speaking shortly before commissioning the 20-bed capacity treatment Centre donated by the UniPort 80s Alumni Group on Monday, October 26, 2020, the Acting Vice Chancellor, Professor Stephen Okodudu commended the Group, the Chief Medical Director of the University of Port Teaching Hospital (UPTH), Professor Henry Ugboma and other stakeholders who contributed to the establishment of the Centre. Professor Okodudu also promised to always place premium on the welfare of students, to enable them give back to the University. The Acting Vice Chancellor who decried poor funding of public institutions, however appealed for more support from the alumni and public-spirited individuals. “As you know, public institutions are not well resourced for reasons that are not beyond the fact of what is generally going on in the entire country, and so, we can only continue to leverage on the support of those who see themselves as part of this institution. The University is a community of students and their teachers and so what that means is that, whatever it would take to make our students comfortable in the University, to make them feel a sense of belonging to the University we must do because we would be looking forward to seeing another set of alumni members wanting to do something similar,  if not more than what we have done here now. “I want to from the depth of my heart, express the gratitude of the Principal Officers, staff and even Council of our University and our students to Class 80s for the job that you have done for the University and also to thank the CMD of the Teaching Hospital for his commitment as well as partnering the University for this onerous task of dealing with the pandemics,” Professor Okodudu stated. Speaking separately of how the idea of donating the Centre was conceived, the Coordinator and the Spokesperson of the UniPort 80s Alumni Group, Mr Ben Willie and Mrs Uloma Braide disclosed that a small group was formed in reaction to the death of Mr Eze Alomefuna, who was an alumnus of the University. They commended the Management of the University for providing the facility and individuals who contributed to the success of the Centre. “This is a group of men and women who always stand with the University. This is our way of giving back to the University. If one life could be saved here, it's worth it. We hope we would touch the life of the University community,” Mrs Braide said. Speaking earlier before conducting a tour of the facility which has male and female wards, the Chairman, UniPort Covid-19 Steering Committee and the Provost, College of Health Sciences, Professor Iyeopu Siminialayi commended the University for providing the facility. He also lauded members of the Group for the kind gesture.  In his contribution, Professor Ugboma stressed the need for strict adherence to safety protocols to avoid the spread of the pandemic in the University. He commended the Acting Vice Chancellor, Professor Okodudu while pledging continuous partnership of the Hospital with the University. Professor Ugboma further appealed to the Alumni Association to extend their support to the Teaching Hospital.

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