Nigeria has only 75 cardiothoracic surgeons to a population of about 200 million people.
Speaking with Tribune Online in Ilorin on Tuesday, Professor of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH), Peter Adeoye, decried the paucity of cardiothoracic surgeons in Nigeria.
Prof Adeoye revealed that only two of such surgeons exist in Kwara State, adding that between 2006 and 2008, he was the only one in Kwara and Kogi states.
He said that the thorax is the middle of the body to the neck region.
“A lot of things is going on in this country with surgery in general. In Kwara State, we have only two cardiothoracic surgeons. I used to be the only one until 2021. Between 2006 and 2008 I was the only thoracic and cardiovascular surgeon in Kwara and Kogi states. In the whole of Nigeria, we are about 75 now for a population of 200 million. Out of this figure, only about 52 per cent is actively practising. As many end up in an institution that does not have the instruments for them to do the work.
“The entire population of South Africa is about 70 million. In the Western Cape Region alone, they have between 10 and 15 cardiothoracic surgeons.
We also need to do a lot of education to the common man to come as at when due to present their conditions.
“I think despite the constraints we must give credit to the specialists that are doing those procedures. Surgeons are doing a lot with good success. I will not be able to give statistics because it is beyond my speciality alone to talk about surgery in general. They are doing greatly well compared to other parts of the world. The thing I must emphasise is that there is still a shortage of manpower. The number of patients is more than the number of capable hands on ground”.
Speaking on the success rates of surgeries at the UITH, the cardiothoracic surgeon said that “I would tell you that we have
recorded exceeding successes in surgeries in UITH. Our success in retrieving objects swallowed inadvertently have been about 95 per cent. We have had between 65 and 75 per cent success rate in operating on patients to remove some conditions that have destroyed their lungs. It is very difficult for me to give a global success rate because the disease entities are separate. But we have done open-heart surgery here in UITH on nine and lost one of the nine patients.
“The hole in the heart, I mean the one that is just outside the heart called PDA, we have done about 26 cases and lost one patient. So if you look at it we have had good successes with the procedure we do. We have done an operation to remove the entire food pipe and reconstruct another one.
“We have also good successes and in 22 cases we lost two patients. On billing, I am privy to surgery billing outside this country and also in private hospitals, based on this I would say our surgeries in this institution is affordable to the common people. Open heart surgery might not be readily affordable. The surgeon assured that cancerous conditions are not a death sentence, noting that “cancer is not a death sentence, though it is a difficult condition to treat. It also depends on the type of cancer. The chance of prolonging life is better when people report early.”
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