In a rare medical feat,
the Obafemi Awolowo UniversityTeaching Hospital Complex, OAUTHC, Ile
Ife, Osun State, has carried successful paediatric open heart surgeries
on six children including five with holes in the heart.
One of the children who underwent the successful heart surgery.
One of the children who underwent the successful heart surgery.
The children who are from various parts of the country including Ilesa
and Ikire in Osun State, Akure (Ondo State), Warri (Delta State), Offa
(Kwara State) and Port- Harcourt (Rivers State), had the surgeries
performed on them between Tuesday 26th of May, and Sunday, 1st of May,
2016.
The Chief Medical Director, OAUTHC, Professor Victor A. Adetiloye, who
disclosed this to Vanguard, said an additional 20 children are already
slated for June-July 2016 for open heart surgeries which for now, the
hospital hopes to perform routinely at least quarterly.
“This is an accomplishment of our dreams and visions seeing that this is
possible in Ile-Ife,” Adetiloye remarked, even as he commended the
medical team comprising cardiothoracic surgeons, led by Drs. Akin
Ogunrombi and Uvie Onakpoya, a Paediatric Cardiologist, Dr. John
Okeniyi, an Open Heart Task Force, operating theatre nurses, and a host
of other departmental staff of the hospital including the Dean,
Faculty of Clinical Sciences, OAU, Ile-Ife who freely donated blood.
Adetiloye who regretted the high incidence of cardiac diseases and its
contribution to poor health status and low life expectancy in the
country, said it was in the bid to stem the tide, that the Management of
OAUTHC, Ile-Ife, over the past years invested heavily in the
procurement of equipment, consumables and the training of personnel to
be able to diagnose and treat heart diseases both medically and
surgically.
He said the impact of heart diseases both acquired and congenital which
hitherto were considered as exoteric and uncommon is on the rise. ”
In
fact the World Health Organization estimates that to be able to treat
the heart diseases in any country, at least 400 open heart surgeries
need to be performed for every one million population yearly.
“Assuming Nigeria’s current population of 170 million people, this means
that Nigeria should be performing at least 68,000 heart surgeries every
year.
“Until this year, the OAUTHC runs both adult and paediatric cardiology
services and routinely perform closed cardiac surgeries such as
Trans-thoracic PDA ligations, pericardectomies, pacemaker implantations
and various other forms of closed surgical operations on the heart,
blood vessels and the chest, but the desire to transition to start
performing open heart surgeries spurred the management on the leadership
of the current Chief Medical Director, two years ago to set up a task
force for open heart surgery headed by Professor M.O. Balogun a renowned
adult Cardiologist,” Adetiloye remarked.
To this end, the Hospital entered into a partnership with the Cardiac
Eye International Foundation, a foreign NGO headed by Prof. Dr. Maqsood
M. Elahi.
“An 8½-month-old female infant with congenital rubella syndrome referred
from Delta State was the recipient of the first exploratory interaction
between the Hospital and the Cardiac Eye International Foundation. In
December 2015, she underwent a simultaneous PDA closure and repair of
her bilateral cataracts successfully,” the CMD noted.
He said the OAUTHC is poised to become a referral centre for cardiac
surgery in the West African sub region and also become a training
institution for the various cadres of staff involved in open heart
surgery. “There is a need to commend the efforts of the Minister of
Health, Professor Isaac Adewole, and the Federal Ministry of Health for
their support towards the successful conduct of our open heart
surgeries.
“The OAUTHC Management expresses gratitude to the Ooni of Ife, Ooni
Adeyeye Eniitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja II, who motivated us and donated cardiac
consumables worth millions, Mr. Edmund Doyah-Tiemo who donated a
ventilator and syringe pump and The Future Hope Foundation UK /
FutureHope Nigeria who sponsored a patient for surgery.”
Source: Vanguardngr
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