The newly Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) in Benin, Professor Idia Ize-Iyamu on Monday August 18th 2025 assumed duty with a touching display of solidarity, pledging to strengthen health care infrastructure and improve staff welfare.
The first female Chief CMD of the year-old hospital, promised to dedicate the 52-year-old tertiary institution to excellence and support the national drive for equitable, cost-effective, and reliable healthcare for all Nigerians irrespective of their social status within the next four years in office.
“To my predecessors in this office, especially Professor Darlington Obaseki,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.
“We shall pursue this 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, with the University of Benin, with professional bodies, philanthropists, alumni, industry counterparts, and the diaspora, because the problems we face are bigger than any one institution, and so are the solutions”, she said.
The Professor of Orthodontics — who is the first Dentist and first Orthodontist that has risen to the position of Chief Medical Director in the federal government-owned hospital, is expected to embark on facility tour of the hospital and obtain briefing from the various Heads of Departments soon.
