[ad_1]
The Federal Medical Center (FMC), Umuahia strives for medical excellence and their effort is gradually yielding fruits. The FMC has in recent times sufficiently filled the gap of tertiary medical services and thereby fulfilled the mandate for its establishment. Its breakthroughs in kidney transplant surgeries and gynaeco- logy has given Nigerians hope that they do not need to travel abroad for medical services, at least in these areas.
The Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Professor Azubuike Onyebuchi, undoubtedly brought a touch of excellence in infrastructure, equipment and personnel, which has rubbed off on the services rendered by the FMC. Last month the hospital per- formed the 11th successful kidney transplant in four years. The period of the rare feat cov- ers December 2017, excluding the COVID-19 years of 2020-2021, when it conducted the first surgery, till date. Dr. Chimezie Okwuonu, a kidney specialist and head of the transplant team said the most recent surgeries were fully carried out by Nigerian surgeons.
According to the consultant physician/nephrologist, “at the beginning of this medical milestone, it was performed and supervised by surgeons from the US.” He said after the first four kidney transplantations were con- ducted, Nigerian surgeons after acquiring the skills took over from their US counterparts and successfully carried out the last seven with minimal supervision of external experts.
The latest in the series, he explained involved “a man in his late 60s who has kidney disease and has been on dialysis in the past four months but later brought to FMC Umuahia when he fulfilled all the conditions for the surgery which has successfully been carried out.” “The patient is very healthy, he has started making adequate urine and he is doing better. We have done some laboratory tests which show that there is a remark- able improvement in the vitals of the patient.
“As for the donor, he is okay and doing well. They are all recovering from the post-surgery period and we hope that in the next one week, we should be able to discharge them to go to their homes,” he stated. Dr. Okwuonu noted that the FMC Umuahia was the only one of its kind undertaking a kidney transplantation programme in South East and South-South and pledged its commit- ment to remain active. He applauded the hospital’s Chief Medical Director, Prof. Azubuike Onyebuchi for the transformation he has carried out in the past couple of years to position the hospital for this feat. While lamenting that lack of adequate equipment and increasing brain drain have been the twin problem of the programme, Dr. Okwuonu praised the CMD for demonstrating enough support for the programme despite challenges.
He appealed to government to subsidise the cost of kidney transplantation, create a healthy environment and offer some incentives to people ready to donate their organ for their loved ones. Such incentives he said could be in form of free tuition, discounted utility bills, and others to encourage willing donors. Also, Abia-born medical specialist and Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist with the Department of Obstetrics in FMC Umuahia, Dr Nnabuike Okechukwu Ojiegbe, has become the first sub specialist in Assisted Reproduction, the Invitro Fertilisation (IVF), in West Africa College of Surgeons. Dr. Ojiegbe was recently inducted as one of the first subspecialists in the subspecialty of Infertility and Assisted Reproduction in the Faculty of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of the West Africa College of Surgeons. Dr. Ojiegbe, who is the coordinator of the IVF programme of FMC Umuahia was inducted at the recently concluded 63rd Annual Conference of the West Africa College of Surgeons held in Lome, Togo.
The event was the culmination of the year-long hands-on training of post-fellowship specialist gynaecologists in the subspecialty of infertility and assisted reproduction, hosted by the only accredited institution in West Africa, the Nisa Premier Hospital, Abuja, under the auspices of the West Africa College of Surgeons (WACS). This is another milestone by the management of FMC, Umuahia, in positioning the facility for modern subspecialty service delivery across medical specialities by sponsoring deserving professionals to capacity and competence-building training.
FMC Umuahia reconstituted the fertility team of the IVF centre in 2016 with Dr. Nnabuike Ojiegbe as the coordinator, and since then many fertility-challenged couples have been assisted by the unit to have children. He trained and qualified as the first obstetrician and gynaecologist from the Federal Medical Centre, Umuahia residency training programme and was subsequently appointed the first consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist wholly trained in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in FMC Umuahia. The completed state-of-the-art IVF centre, constructed by Prof. Azubuike Onyebuchi-led management, is the first of its kind in any Federal Medical Centre in the South Eastern Nigeria.
[ad_2]
Source link
