Expert urges FG on payment of heart surgeries annually
A Cardiac Surgeon, Prof Uvie Onakpoya, has urged the Federal governments and stakeholders at all levels to pay for 1,000 heart surgeries out of the 70,000 to 80,000 Nigerians who need heart surgery annually.
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Onakpoya said this while addressing newsmen at the celebration of World Heart Day on Friday at Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Complex (OAUTHC), Ile Ife . He said that that Ghanaian government has a Heart Foundation that pays for 50 per cent of the cost of heart surgery and thereby increasing the life expectancy of its citizens by 10 years.
“What that means is that if you move from Nigeria and settle in Ghana, you will live longer by 10 years. It is so because heart disease is a major killer and it kills people initially at a younger age of congenital heart disease and in their prime for acquired heart disease,” said Onakpoya, Head of Cardiothoracic Surgery Team at OAUTHC.
Onakpoya also admonished Nigerians to take good care of their hearts by regularly checking their blood pressure, sugar and blood liquid levels as well as taking medication as prescribed by physicians.
The surgeon kicked against Federal Government’s policy prohibiting the sponsorship of training health workers abroad, noting that there is no school of perfusion training in Nigeria as we speak and none in West Africa.
“We had to look for training sponsorship for the last perfusionist and we sponsored his training abroad without the hospital or government because of the law. He is back now working for the government. That policy has to be reversed. I’m sure there is a good reason for that policy. But there have to be exceptions for the healthcare sector, especially in cardiac surgery where some of this training are not available locally,” he said.
He however appealed to the Federal Government to employ more health workers, stating that trained personnel are limited in the county. The OAUTHC Cardiothoracic Surgery Team has performed over 150 heart surgeries from 2016 till date.
NAN/Wumi
