From TONY JOHN, Port Harcourt
The University of Port-Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH),  has denied the alleged death of about 19 babies at its facilities.
Early Saturday, a report went viral on social media that over 15 babies who were kept in incubators in UPTH died due to power failure.
Meanwhile, a statement  from the acting Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the hospital, Elabha Alexandra Meni, said that such an incident did not occur.
It maintained that UPTH has since been reckoned as where world’s best medical standards  were practised and among the best hospitals in the South-South zone.
“However, it is quite saddening that certain persons try to tarnish the image of the hospital by spreading false messages that are inaccurate.
“Our attention has been drawn to a story of the 14 to 19 babies dying in the hospital, this is not correct. We did not record any infant mortality in our SCBU (inborn and outborn) as a result of our electrical power outage, due to the faulty transformer, during which the standby generator serviced the hospital for the period, with all emergency areas fully powered.
“The University of Port-Harcourt Teaching Hospital, is a known centre for Excellence, a citadel of training, research and health care delivery.
“The University of Port-Harcourt Teaching Hospital is an institution, where world’s best medical standards are practiced and maintained, which also has helped made the institution one of the best medical centres in the South-South and Nigeria at large.”
The acting spokesperson for the UPTH added that the hospital never cancelled any surgery operation and there was no time power failure disrupted their services.
Meni, however, condemned the fake new which was scandalous and intended to damage the reputation of the hospital.
“Surgeries were never cancelled, neither were our services disrupted.
“The management of UPTH frowns seriously at such scandalous social media propaganda that is damaging its image.
“We want the general public to know that we remain committed in our service to humanity.”