3rd February, 2022
By George Odok
The management of the Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital in Calabar, Cross River State, has performed the groundbreaking ceremony for the building of their permanent structure along Tinapa road.
Mr Kunle Dada, the Acting Board Chairman of the hospital, performed the groundbreaking ceremony on Wednesday in Calabar.
Speaking, Dr Bassey Edet, the Medical Director, Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Calabar, said that the allocation of the land was granted to the hospital management in 2000 by the former governor of the state, Mr Donald Duke.
Edet said that the current facility hosting the hospital in Calabar South was no longer large enough to accommodate new buildings and office spaces.
According to him, the site allocated to the hospital was 20.023 hectares of land.
However, he decried that during the #EndSars protest in 2020, some hoodlums stormed the hospital, destroyed facilities and carted away valuables worth millions of Naira.
“The hospital is going to contain an Intensive Care Unit, an isolation ward, a community clinic for males, females and children and several beds.
“We want to make sure that we provide a broader reach for mental health coverage and make it more accessible by all,” he said.
He pleaded with youths of the host community, Ikpai Omin Qua Community, to support the project and also protect it from vandals.
Dr Joseph Okegbe, the immediate past Medical Director of the hospital, said that the hospital in Calabar was established in 1903, adding that it is the oldest mental health hospital in Nigeria.
“Since its establishment, the hospital has remained in the same location and this has naturally limited its ability to provide infrastructural development.
“This state of affairs had remained a source of concern to past management of the hospital until 2000 when a direct approach was made to the Cross River Government for allocation of sizeable land as a permanent site.
“This approach yielded positive result when former governor Duke allocated 20.023 hectares of land at Ikpai Omin Qua community along Tinapa road,” he said.
He explained that in 2007, the land was revoked by former Governor Liyel Imoke for the failure of the hospital to erect a building seven years after the allocation.
Also, Okegbe said that the state government gave a second reason that “locating the hospital at the site would constitute a nuisance to the Tinapa resort”.
He noted that in 2011, the state government rescinded its revocation order and revalidated the interest of the hospital in the land and re-conveyed the land to the hospital accordingly.
NAN