University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital(UITH) Performs Record-breaking Open-heart Surgery

The University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital has recorded a first following their performance of the first open heart surgery.

This was made known by the institution's Chief Medical Director, Prof. Abdulwaheed Olatinwo who addressed news men.

According to Olatinwo, the feat achieved 48 hours ago was carried out by a team of surgeons led by Dr Neville Solomon of Apollo Hospitals Chennai, India.

He stated that Solomon was a world renowned cardiac surgeon who performs over 3, 000 heart surgeries free around the world in a year.

Olatinwo added that the Teaching Hospital has now joined the league of three or four other teaching hospitals that can perform Open Heart Surgery in the country.

The strategic partnership, according to Olatinwo, was of two benefits - exposing patients to the highest quality of surgical care comparable to that which is obtainable anywhere in the world and the facilitation of skills transfer to the Teaching Hospital’s cardiac care team so that they could carry out subsequent surgeries.

He further said the goal was to make UITH a one-stop shop for all medical solutions.

Olatinwo said that each of the two heart surgeries cost N1. 8 million, the hospital paid 72% while the patient paid the remaining 25%, adding that a lot of financial investment was required to sustain the new phase of clinical care in the hospital.

He also appealed to the government at all levels, public-spirited individuals and corporate organisations to partner with the UITH to fully equip our cardiac centre to include Cardiac catheterisation lab.

According to him, the hospital which was established in 1980, recorded its first kidney transplant in 2012 becoming one of the eight other hospitals rendering such advanced services in the country.

“We also commenced the Assistant Reproductive Technology (ART) programme which has yielded five babies (through IVF and ICSI) with four ongoing pregnancies including a set of triplets,’’ he added.

Finally, Olatinwo said the hospital had established and strengthened the pain and palliative care unit, which he said, was a composite aspect of quality tertiary care everywhere in the world.