By Sunday Bassey
Gov. Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom has procured digital equipment for
General Hospital, Awa in Onna Local Government Area of the state.
The Chief Physician to the governor, Dr Ignitius Akpabio, made this known at a news conference in Onna on Thursday.
Akpabio said the equipment include the C- arm machine; diathermy machine; Anesthetic machine; Pendant machine,
Brandon Lighting device and Mindray operating table.
He added that the governor had also approved an ultra modern theatre for major surgical procedures with audiovisual facilities for learning
and a full radiological unit, of which, most installations have been done.
The physician said that the governor had approved training for cardiologists, cardiothoracic surgeons, anaesthetist; intersivits; radiologists,
radiographers, cardiac unit and theatre nurses.
He said “when the training programme, modern theatre and sophisticated radiological systems were installed, he then considered
the stage set for the first pacemaker to be installed in General Hospital, Awa.”
He gave the assurance that the General Hospital, Awa and other general hospitals in the state would soon be the hub for medical tourism.
In his remarks, Prof. Eyo Ekpe, a Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery, said the General Hospital, Awa, recorded the
first Cardiac Pacemaker Implantation in the area.
Ekpe said the hospital became the first general hospital to record such huge medical feat.
He added that “the state government has remodeled and upgraded general hospitals across the state to consistently proffer
solutions to endangering medical challenges globally.”
The professor, who led the team of surgeons that carried out a successful procedure, said the state-of-the-art
theatre led to successful implant procedure carried out on two female patients who had blocked heart arteries.
Ekpe said “the implant is a procedure that takes many who are in need of such treatment out of the state and country and it is quite expensive.”
He thanked the governor for investing in the health sector.
In his remarks, Dr Ezekiel Ogunleye, the Chief Cardiothoracic Consultant, Lagos University Teaching Hospital, also commended
the governor for investing in health reforms.
Ogunleye said “medical equipment help doctors do their job well; it is the instrument you provide that help us in working,
so, when we see one in government hospitals, we should encourage government so they do more and the other states will copy.”
He said “a pacemaker is a man-made battery that keeps the heart functioning when the natural batteries and wires
inside the heart develop problems due to disease or age.”
Ogunleye said that the C-arm machine is the needed equipment for the procedure but most states in the country do not have it.
(NAN)
