12 kids in open-heart surgeries

A health team headed by Drs Ikenna Omeje and Jan Brazdil, paediatric cardiothoracic surgeons at London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital, one of the largest children’s hospitals in the world, did the procedures, supported by the US-based charity Hospitals for Humanity.“Going forward, we will make it more sustainable…coming home to offer the best care you can […]

A health team headed by Drs Ikenna Omeje and Jan Brazdil, paediatric cardiothoracic surgeons at London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital, one of the largest children’s hospitals in the world, did the procedures, supported by the US-based charity Hospitals for Humanity.
“Going forward, we will make it more sustainable…coming home to offer the best care you can get anywhere in the world for Nigerian children,” said Nigerian born Dr Omeje, who volunteered theatre time to do the procedure alongside Dr Brazdil and local experts.
Hospitals for Humanity hopes to establish a cardiothoracic centre to conduct even more surgeries, using and transferring skill from more than 250 volunteer doctors on its service, said the charity’s chief executive officer Segun Ajayi.
The surgeries come after Garki Hospital’s record open-heart surgery on two-year-old Joanna Enahoro in August last year. Since then it has pushed the envelope on major procedures as cardiac surgeries and kidney transplants.
“The first thing is to prove to people that these things can be done locally and safely,” said Dr Elijah Miner, medical director at Garki Hospital. “That is why we look for people [who] have been doing these kinds of surgeries consistently, successfully and in a sustainable fashion.”
By extension, more awareness about such surgeries obtained locally could help stem medical tourism abroad, which costs the country nearly N80 billion naira annually in foreign exchange, according to some estimates.
“We really hope government will be able to key into it, because at the end of the day, it will be to the advantage of all Nigerians,” said Dr Miner.