Second kidney transplant

ABOUT a week after a similar feat by a team of surgeons at Lagoon Hospital, Apapa, the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) has announced its first successful open heart surgery and second kidney transplant.  

   With the feat, LUTH has joined the few public hospitals in Nigeria to have successfully performed open-heart surgeries. The others the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Enugu, and the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan.  

   The LUTH Chief Medical Director, Prof. Akin Osibogun, told a news briefing to announce the four major surgical breakthroughs that with the hospital’s capacity and capability to perform open heart surgeries at about N2 million and kidney/renal transplant at about N3 million, Nigerians would not need to travel abroad for such medical treatments. 

   According to Osibogun, the three major reasons Nigerians travel abroad for treatment are for open heart surgery, kidney transplant and joint and hip replacement, which are now obtainable at LUTH at a much cheaper rate. 

   “The three open heart surgeries performed over the weekend have been without complications. We have also carried out another renal transplantation in the hospital,” he said, adding that the hospital has sent some of its doctors to its partners to under study and for specialized trainings, as a form of technology transfer. 

   Nevertheless, he said the surgical performances were in collaboration with doctors from India, Turkey, Switzerland and Egypt. The team included a consultant cardiologist and chairman of the team, Prof. Jane Ajuluchukwu, and consultant cardiologist and Associate Professor, Dr. Amam Mbakwem.

   The others were a consultant cardiac surgeon and coordinator of the open surgery team, Dr. Olugbenga Olusoji, consultant neurologist and Head, Department of Surgery, Dr. Habib Tijani, consultant paediatrician, Dr. Taiwo Oladapo, Chairman, Medical Advisory Committee (CMAC) and Director, Clinical Services, Prof. Chris Bode, who is also a consultant paediatrician.  

   Osibogun disclosed that the first of the three open heart surgeries was on an 18-month old girl with congenital heart disease, who had multiple holes in the heart, the second was on a 23-year old undergraduate with partial ventricular defect and tears in the heart valve and holes, while the third was on a seven-year old boy with congenital heart disease. 

   He noted that the renal transplant was carried out on a 15-year old girl, with donor-kidney from her cousin, adding that the patient had nephritic syndrome and had been on dialysis for the past few years.

   “We are in a position to do this on a regular basis,” he said. “We have seen renewed interest. The most important thing is that the infrastructure and personnel are on ground.”

   More so, “it is quite cheaper than traveling abroad. The open heart surgery will be far less than N2 million and the renal transplant will be less than N3 million. But if you were to travel abroad, N2 million will have to buy the ticket. On the long run, the prices are likely to be cut by 50 percent.”