Ilorin – Prof. Abdulwaheed Olatinwo, the Chief Medical Director (CMD), University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH), has said that the hospital would soon become a one shop heart facility in Africa.
He made this known in Ilorin on Thursday while briefing newsmen at the end of the open heart surgery performed on three Nigerian children at the hospital.
The chief medical director said that with the feat recorded in open heart surgery, the hospital has laid the foundation of the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory (Cat Lab), expected to be completed and equipped in six months.
According to him, Cat Lab is essential for a full fledged cardiac surgery centre.
He said that the vision of the hospital was to be the best heart centre in Africa before 2018, hence the resolve of the management to send three of the doctors on training to India.
Olatinwo said Catheterization involves the use of machines and other imaging procedures to diagnose and treat congenial heart conditions.
“With Cat Lab, you can treat heart problems if the defect is not that much, while patients with abnormal heart activities can be treated in the Cat Lab,” Olatinwo
said.
The hospital boss added that “the hospital can now boast of qualified personnel and equipment that can give Nigerians, irrespective of status, the best care in heart facility.
“As part of our vision, we want to make the hospital a one stop heart facility which we believe anybody with heart problem in Nigeria, Africa and West Africa can come for treatment.”
He said the cost of surgery ranged between N700,000 and N1.8 million, adding that charges could still be subsidised for patients who could not afford to pay.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the open heart surgery on the three children were carried out by a team of surgeons with Dr Philip Adeoye leading UITH, while Prof. Neville Solomon of Apollo Hospital, Dubai, and Chennai led a team from India.
The children with holes in their hearts were aged between four and six years were said to be in stable conditions and may be discharged soon. (NAN)
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