Foundation Partners Hospital For Surgeries

The Surgical Aid Foundation (SAF) in collaboration with Kelina Hospital, Abuja and other stakeholders, will host a series of minimal access surgeries in Abuja.

The consultant Urological Surgeon and President of Kelina Hospital, Dr Celsius Undie, said this at an open forum with the press in Abuja on Thursday.

“All surgeries will be minimal access surgeries, so no open surgery will be done during the course of the programme”.

“Open surgeries are still popular in Nigeria today, but with high technology equipment, we can gain access to  affected body area through a small incision or through the natural orifices of the body”.

Undie explained that minimal access surgeries, otherwise known as endoscopic or laparoscopic surgeries, did not require the patient to be cut open and this drastically reduced the recuperation time.

He said that Nigerians spent a lot of money every year to travel abroad in order to have these surgeries done.

“Apart from taking away money from the country, these patients found it hard to consult with their doctor as a follow up to the surgery”.

Undie explained that eligible patients would not have to bear the full cost of the surgeries, due to the support of the SAF and other stakeholders, who contributed funds and supplies.

He said that manufacturers of surgical equipment including, Cook in South Africa, Johnson and Johnson, Marcus Medical and Karl Storz in Germany, had agreed to donate materials.

He said that this would be the third year that Kelina Hospital would be hosting this kind of medical outreach.

The consultant surgeon said that between March 15 and March 21, the Societe Internationale d’Urologie (SIU), led by their President, Dr Mahesh Desai, would perform the series of surgeries.

Undie said that all the surgeries would be urological because that was the specialty of  the team of visiting surgeons.

He said that Desai would also give a lecture entitled, “Health initiative by the Societe Internationale d’Urologie” at the Abuja Sheraton Hotel today.

According to him, patients who can not afford the surgeries need to be made aware of the opportunity.

“Also, Nigerian Urologists who want to take advantage of the learning opportunity should also contact the SAF.”

Undie said that he had applied for accreditation from the Medical and Dental Council of  Nigeria, to accept the surgeries as part of the Continuous Medical Education (CME) activities.

It may be recalled that all Nigerian medical doctors are required to show proof of attending a certain number of CEM activities before they can be re-registered each year.