UCTH performs first heart surgery in South-South region
Ikpeme Ikpeme a professor of Orthopaedics and chief medical director of the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH) on Thursday said the hospital has carried out the first heart surgery ever in witness in the entire South-South region of Nigeria.
Ikpeme said in a statement that the patient was safely wheeled out to our Intensive Care Unit. She had received a Mitral valve replacement following about six and a half hours of surgery.
“We are the first Tertiary Health Institution in the South-South region of the country to accomplish this, and join a group of very few elite centres nationwide,” the statement stated.
“Our commitment is that as we resuscitate basic services, we will strive to introduce higher-end services that will define our existence as a Tertiary centre & contribute to the well-being of our people and community”
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According to the CMD, the success has been the culmination of two years of hard work, determination, sacrifice, vision, and focus at different levels in the hospital.
Ikpeme said that the heart surgery mission was in partnership with Voom Foundation.
“We have had to construct a new Theatre Suite using in-house engineering and technical teams, we had to create a multidisciplinary heart surgery team, and invest in equipment worth millions of naira.
“This programme, therefore, does not belong to any individual or administration, it belongs to UCTH and can only be sustained when we choose to be a team,” he said.
He appreciated the entire management for the success and the minister of health for approving.
“Our surgeons led this effort actively & some team members came from across the country. We thank the board chairman and the governing board for giving us the ‘wing to fly’,” the statement noted.