The Chief Physician to the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Udom Emmanuel, has said Government-owned hospitals performed eight successful cardiac peacemaker implantation at the General Hospital in the state.
Ignatius disclosed this during an interaction he had with medical experts at Uruan LGA.
He said three cardiac peacemaker implantation was performed on Thursday, at the General Hospital, Awa in Onna LGA.
“The first peacemaker implantation carried out at the General Hospital Awa, took place on Wednesday till Thursday.
“Akwa Ibom has eight successful cardiac peacemaker implantations in the state since the facilities were procured by Governor Emmanuel’s administration”, Ignatius said.
Ignatius described the feat as unprecedented in the history of general hospitals in Nigeria.
He said Emmanuel’s administration had received more accolades for eight years of sterling interventions in the health sector across the state.
According to him, the party was organised to appreciate the team of medical professionals, which painstakingly contributed to the health sector achievements of the administration.
Ignatius thanked the Governor for training the cardiologists, cardiothoracic surgeons, anesthetist, intersivits, radiologist, radiographers, cardiac unit and theater nurses and the procurement of ultra modern theatre that made the implantation possible.
He also thanked the medical personnel for supporting the administration professionally to register the successes it in the last 8 years.
In his remarks, the cardiothoracic consultant at LUTH, Dr. Ezekiel Ogunleye, who led the surgery team for the pacemaker implant, appreciated Governor Emmanuel and his Chief Physician for the tenacity of making the pacemaker implant a reality in a general hospital in Akwa Ibom.
Ogunleye said they started the pacemaker insertion in 1999 and since then they had not done the implant in any general hospital in Nigeria.
“We started the pacemaker insertion in 1999; we have never done the surgery in any general hospital in Nigeria”, he said.
He stated further that when the idea of the implant was nursed, there were conflicting thoughts on whether the surgery would be successful or not.
Another surgeon, who has also been partaking in the pacemaker surgery, Prof. Eyo Ekpe, a professor of cardiothoracic surgery, commended Gov. Emmanuel for putting the facilities on ground to aid in major surgeries in the state like the pacemaker insertion.
Explaining the procedure, Ekpe said that for the implant to be successful, several machines had to be put in place in a theater.
He mentioned that the C-Arm machine was one of the machines that had to be in a theater for such procedure to be carried out and that the machine was not common even in teaching hospitals in the country.
The Tide’s source reports that cardiac peacemaker is a life saving procedure that helps to control heartbeat.