Expert urges Nigerian gov’t to invest in children’s health centres

A past president of the British Association of Pediatric Surgeons, Prof. Mark Davenport, has appealed to the Nigerian government to invest more in the Children’s Health Centres, across the country.

Davenport made the call on Monday in Ilorin, at a workshop co-organised by the Divisions of Paediatric Surgery of the University of Ilorin and the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital.

The workshop was organised in collaboration with the National Hospital, Abuja, and the King’s Hospital, London.

“Investing in children’s health centres would be very important to the country’s health circumstances.”

Speaking at the workshop with the theme: “Paediatric Hepato-pancreato biliary Surgical Workshop,” Davenport also urged the government to develop more expertise in the field of liver diseases in children.

He explained that Hepato-pancreato-biliary (HPB), surgery consists of the general surgical treatment for benign and malignant diseases of the liver, pancreas, gallbladder, and bile ducts.

According to him, such investment will save the country from total collapse, saying that the workshop aims to help the participants to improve their skills in the area of child surgery.

“We organised educational lectures prior to the surgery, we planned to do a surgery on a live child and it was filmed and broadcast as a zoom meeting,” he said.

He decried the general lack of intensive care for children in the country’s hospitals, adding, steps are now being taken to improve it in some quarters.

In his presentation, Prof. Lukman Abdur-Rahman, a Lecturer at the Department of Surgery of the University observed, many children have jaundice and many more with surgical jaundice turn out late for treatment.

“One of the aims of the workshop is to create awareness for the people on how to detect the ailment early and treat it promptly.”

Abdur-Rahman, also a Consultant Pediatrics Surgeon at UITH decried the lack of sufficient facilities and pediatric intensive care in the units.

“More than 70 per cent of the cases of jaundice can medically be treated, however, if the medical causes are not addressed properly, jaundice can cause neurological incapacitation and liver failure,” he added.

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