UNTH PERFORMS SUCCESSFUL FREE OPEN HEART SURGERY ON 24 CHILDREN
Twenty four indigent children with congenital heart diseases have successfully undergone free open heart surgery at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), ItukuOzalla, Enugu State.
The Chief Medical Director of the Hospital, Dr. Christopher Amah explained that the mission was sponsored by a Non-Governmental Organisation, the Spiritan Self Awareness Initiative Nigeria,“Gift of life.”
It is a well known fact that treatment and management of heart diseases such as congenital heart disorder and cardiac related ailments are very expensive.
Statistics show that lives of thousands of people have been cut short due to their inability to bear the cost of treatment.
This is why the UNTH ItukuOzalla Enugu in collaboration with an Indian Hospital conducted free open heart surgeries for twenty four children with various complex heart conditions whose parents could not afford the cost of the treatment.
The Chief Medical Director of UNTH ItukuOzalla, Dr. Ama while commending the foreign collaborators and some good spirited Nigerians for their endless support in saving the lives of the poor people with heart diseases, said the hospital was poised to benefit from the expertise of their collaborators to enhance the capacity of its local medical team.
Dr. Amah appealed for government’s support towards the completion of the Cardio-thoracic Centre project, which would ensure that the program ran its full course.
The Pediatric cardiac surgeons led by Dr. Shush Katewa, who had performed close to five thousand pediatric surgeries in ten years, expressed satisfaction with his contributions in saving the lives of many children through the free surgeries.
Some parents whose children benefited from the mission commended the management of UNTH and the medical team for coming to their rescue.
According to the arrangement, the beneficiaries when discharged from the hospital were presented with cash and gift items.
The surgery was the third session of the free open heart surgery in UNTH since November 2018.
ADAKU AGBARA