UPTH Undertakes Hip Surgery

Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Mr Humphrey Abbah (left), Minister of Power, Dr Lanre Babalola (middle) and Minister of Finance, Dr Mansur Muktar at a meeting of the National Council on Privatisation in Abuja, yesterday.

The University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH) has recorded a break-through in orthopaedic surgery following a successful cementless hip replacement operation on a 46-year old patient.

The patient who was diagnosed for secondary asteorthritis of the left hip had to undergo a three-hour surgery at the main orthopaedic threatre of the hospital using cementless replacement procedure, which was the first time of such operation at UPTH.

A team of orthopaedic surgeons headed by Dr P.D.Eyimina and  Dr R.C Echem successfully carried out the operation thereby beating the normal cement procedures done few years ago at the hospital.

With the cementless surgery, the patient could easily be treated for revision of the surgery if the need arises later in his lifespan. The cementless procedure last for between 10-15years.

Investigations revealed that the UPTH authorities expect more break-through this year having established the enabling environment through adequate facilities, equipment and personnel (manpower development).

The current UPTH’s Chief Medical Director (CMD), Prof A.C Ogule at the inception of his administration pledged to re-engineer the five-star tertiary health institution, a promise which had been yielding  positive results recently.

With the new achievement, the UPTH becomes the first hospital in the South-South geo-political zone of Nigerian to perform a successful cementless hip replacement surgery.