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By Chidi Nkwopara
Wednesday, July 07, 2004
OWERRI— A TEAM of consultant orthopedic surgeons led by Dr. Sylvanus Amaechi has successfully carried out a hip replacement operation at Christina Specialist Hospital, Egbu, Owerri North Local Government area of, Imo State. Speaking to Vanguard after the operation, Dr. Amaechi who is also the President of Nigerian Orthopedic Association (NOA) said the exercise was part of the retraining programme for members of the Association. “With the successful bi-polar operation, Nigerians are no longer required to travel abroad for the operation, especially now that the country has the expertise,manpower and equipment to handle the situation,” Dr. Amaechi explained.
According to the NOA president, some German surgeons will be arriving the country next month to understudy their Nigerian counterparts in hip replacement operation, as well as other orthopedic cases not very common in Europe."These surgeons will, on arrival, visit major orthopedic centres in Nigeria with a view to exchanging ideas with their Nigerian counterparts on how to advance bone medicine in their home countries,” Amaechi said.Continuing, the NOA president disclosed that as the German surgeons would be leaving the country, some of their Nigerian counterparts would take a trip to America and other countries for retraining.
"This Association is committed to updating the knowledge of its members to ensure that they stay ahead of their colleagues in other parts of the world.In our sincere resolve to train and retrain our members, a number of us would be leaving for America and some other countries with a view to making them conversant with the development of this sphere of medicine,” the NOA President explained. Answering another question, he said that what orthopedic surgeons require from the federal and state governments was proper funding of orthopedic centres, as well as drastic reduction of duties on equipment used by the surgeons.
On the implication of the bi-polar operation, Dr. Amaechi said it was to reassure Nigerians that the operation can be carried out successfully in the country."We have been carrying out this operation and those who should know also know. All we are saying is that Nigerians should make use of the orthopedic centres in their country instead of transferring our hard earned foreign exchange to other countries,” Amaechi said.
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