OAUTHC carried out successful paediatric open heart surgeries ON MAY 8, 2016 In a rare medical feat, the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Complex, OAUTHC, Ile Ife, Osun State, performed successful paediatric open heart surgeries on six children including five with holes in the heart. 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, 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 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. 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.”
