UNTH, ITUKU-OZALLA RECORDS ANOTHER FEAT IN OPEN HEART SURGERY ….10 Indigent Patients Benefitted from the Surgery

Ten indigent persons with complex heart diseases have benefited from the Free Open Heart Surgery of University 0f Nigeria Teaching Hospital, UNTH, Ituku-Ozalla, Enugu State.
More than sixty evacuated patients are still on the waiting list for Open Heart Surgery at the hospital.
Treatment and management of heart diseases such as congenital heart disorder is not only complex but very expensive.
Statistics show that lives of thousands of people have been cut short due to their inability to bear the cost of treatment and management of the ailments.
This is why the UNTH, ITUKU, Ozalla Enugu in collaboration with a United Kingdom non-governmental organisation, ‘Save a Heart Foundation’ and some teams of expertise from the United Nations and India are conducting free heart Surgery for Nigerians with various heart conditions who cannot afford the cost of the treatment.
The Chief Medical Director of the Hospital, Dr Obinna Onodugo at a News Conference in Enugu, stated that only ten adults out of eighty-seven patients slated to benefit from this mission were attended to.
He explained that the hospital was faced with inadequate resources and delay of consumable required for the surgery donated by International Collaborators at the airport.
The Executive Director, Save a Heart Foundation and Leader of the team of expatriates, Doctor Onyekwre Nzewi expressed commitment towards saving the lives of indigent Nigerians with heart problems.
The Chairman, Cardio Thoracic Centre of Excellence, UNTH, Professor Basden Onwebere confirmed that the Centre had recorded over three hundred free and highly subsidized Open Heart Surgery with ninety five percent success rate.
He appealed to the Federal Government and good spirited individuals to support the program.
Doctor Onwebere announced that Pediatric Open Heart Surgery would soon commence at the hospital.
Some of the beneficiaries, Mr Alihu Muhammed, Chukwudi Nnamani and Florence Okoli who could not hide their joy said behind every victory is a story.
ADAKU AGBARA