The President of the Association of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgeons of Nigeria (ACTSON), Dr. Uvie Onakpoya says over 80, 000 persons in Nigeria require heart surgery every year.
Dr. Onakpoya made this known at the 5th annual scientific conference and annual general meeting of the association held in Abuja.
He explained that cardiovascular disease kills more people worldwide than other infectious diseases.
The Association President said in Nigeria 55, 000 children are born every year with heart diseases, and eight children out of every 100 children are born with congenital heart diseases, and lamented that due to the cost of surgeries and other challenges, only 212 heart surgeries were done last year.
He called for legislation for cardiac surgery in Nigeria so that patients can access surgeries at affordable rates either at private or public health facilities.
“In some other African countries, their government pays for heart surgeries like in Sudan, Uganda Eypt and many other countries.”
“In Nigeria, we have only 60 cardio-thoracic surgeons catering for over 200 million population,” he said.
In her message, the wife of President Aisha Muhammadu Buhari, represented by her Special Assistant, Dr. Victoria Ogala-Akogwu said her pet project “Future Assured project” recently in collaboration with ACTSON provided cardiac surgeries for 23 children and adults.
Chairman of, the House of Representatives Committee on Healthcare Services, Tanko Sununu, decried that less than 600 cardiologists and cardiothoracic surgeons practiced in Nigeria, and noted that the massive brain drain in the health sector contributes to the dearth of skilled manpower in the sector.
