if it is, its still in the developmental stages. Your best bet, if you're currently in Nigeria, is to check with an Orthopedic Hospital assuming they arent currently on strike. Rivers State is pioneering efforts in this area, I think. RIVERS HOSPITAL CONDUCTS FIRST KNEE REPLACEMENT SURGERY
A sixty year old woman, from Okrika in Okrika Local Government Area of the State of Mrs Stephen Oba has successfully undergone a knee replacement surgery at the Braithwaite Memorial Specialist Hospital in Port Harcourt , free of charge, courtesy of the Rivers State Government. The surgery is the first high-profile case in that category to be undertaken at the hospital or any other tertiary health institution in Rivers State .
Speaking on the successful operation, the lead surgeon, Dr Jean-Luc Burrette from Belgium said Mrs Oba was a special case, selected out of the 23 cases before the team. He said, although he was in the state on a special mission to train doctors on knee replacement surgery, the case of Mrs Oba, was not a good teaching case but one that had to be done to give her a fresh lease of life. Dr Burette, who completed the operation with specialist physicians from Switzerland and Rivers State , said although the operation lasted for about 2 hours, others will take lesser time to accomplish.
Speaking on the achievement, the National President of Nigeria Orthopaedic Association, Dr Bob Yellowe, said he was grateful that the breakthrough was coming at a time when there is a strong political will to reduce the pain of Rivers people. He said the patient suffered from severe arthritis of the knee and would have been completed grounded in the next two years if the operation was not carried out.
The State Commissioner for Health, in his reaction said the state government has been spending huge sums of money for knee replacement surgeries overseas before now, noting that the success of the operation demonstrates the success of the Specialist Manpower Development Programme. “The state spends as average of N10m per knee for surgeries overseas, but now we can successfully carry out these operations here in the state for between N500,000 and N700,000, and it will be lesser”, he said. He also announced that when the modular theatre, now under construction is completed, issues relating to infection control will be handled in the state while more high profile medical cases will equally be managed in Rivers hospitals, stressing that “then the state will be a medical tourism centre”.
Information Commissioner, Prince Ogbonna Nwuke, who was on hand to witness the event, acknowledged the presence of miracles in daily living, describing the successful surgery as the miracle of medical science. Prince Nwuke congratulated the surgeons on the success of the operation describing the feat as a testimonial of the commitment of Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi to bring quality health care to the people.
Unable to conceal his happiness, the husband of the patient, Mr Stephen Oba, a retired NNPC staff, said he would remain grateful to Governor Amaechi for providing an answer to the excruciating pains that his wife lived with for several years.
http://www.riversstatenigeria.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=677:rivers-hospital-conducts-first-knee-replacement-surgery&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=216 Hip and knee replacements (especially important for the elderly) arent too common in Nigeria. |
