‘How my life was saved through open heart surgery’

For six painful years, Mr. Theodore Ibeneme, 47, from Orlu, Imo State, could not climb a staircase easily. He always suffered shortness of breath and fainting fits whenever he attempted to do so. Ibeneme also had swollen legs and couldn’t walk freely, among other symptoms . He discovered that he was about losing his life […]

For six painful years, Mr. Theodore Ibeneme, 47, from Orlu, Imo State, could not climb a staircase easily. He always suffered shortness of breath and fainting fits whenever he attempted to do so.
Ibeneme also had swollen legs and couldn’t walk freely, among other symptoms . He discovered that he was about losing his life to the ailment  but for the timely  intervention of the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Ituku-Ozalla, Enugu where  he was examined and diagnosed with a defect in the heart.
Ibeneme is one of the nine patients who recently  underwent  successful open heart surgeries at UNTH.
Chief Medical Director of UNTH, Dr. Chris C. Amah told Daily Trust Health Desk that the hospital performed 99 open heart surgeries before the recent nine making the total number, 108 patients ,including  adult and children, since March 2013 when the hospital resumed the programme.
He said the programme was left moribund for about 10 years before his administration came in and reactivated it to curb medical tourism and capital flight.
However, before going to UNTH, Ibeneme had enquired from a relation living outside Nigeria, about the cost of doing such operations and he was told that it would cost not less than N3.5million. He was at a loss on how to raise the money.
He explained that a reliable source later informed him that the problem could be tackled at the UNTH, and he went there, adding that he feels better now after undergoing the surgery.
“I am grateful to the hospital and its management  for rescuing me from death ,” Ibeneme told this reporter as he sat on his hospital bed with his wife.
His wife, Amaka said, “Everybody in the family felt sad when it dawned on us that the problem was a very serious one. Actually, when we came to UNTH, they told us that his case required heart surgery. So when we talked about it to his family, everybody really felt unhappy because we didn’t even know what would happen after the surgery.  We were saying, ‘God, can he make it? Are we sure he can really face it? But he had a strong faith that he could make it ,and today he has made it. We really thank God.”
The mother of two, said  in UNTH they only paid 1.5 million naira in contrast to the 3.5 million naira , they would have paid outside the country..
 “People need to know about the whole thing happening here so that those with this type of ailment can be treated in this hospital,” she said.
One unique thing about this session of the open heart surgery programme  at the hospital is that almost all the members of the medical team were groomed locally, according to Dr. Amah.
 “In March, 2013 when we revived this programme, we started with a team of nearly 80 percent foreigners. But the whole idea was not just for them to help on charity bases but to also transfer their skill and knowledge. We have now been able to reduce the foreign content in it down to two,” explained Dr. Amah.
He said the patients operated on are from all the zones of the country.
One of the two doctors from India who participated in the session, Dr. Vikram Aerra, a surgeon said he was pleased coming to UNTH to take part in the programme, stressing that the medical team at the hospital could perform open heart surgery without supervision of foreigners since the hospital is well-equipped with facilities.
UNTH chief medical director , Dr. Amah commended the assistance and encouragement the hospital has so far received from foreign partners such as Rotary International and VOOM Foundation.
He recalled that during the open heart surgery session done in September 2015, the President of Rotary International himself, accompanied the team,  and they contributed so much to the programme that the bill the patients paid reduced to N300,000 only, adding that another foreign partner VOOM Foundation will come in with a team to assist in March 2016.