From Chidi Nnadi, Enugu
A professor of Paediatric Surgery, Sebastian Okwuchukwu Ekenze, has called on the government, health care givers and parents to present newborn babies who need surgery early enough to enhance their chances of survival.
Ekenze, who spoke with Sunday Sun after delivering the 120th Inaugural Lecture of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), said that late presentation of surgery cases involving newborn babies jeopardize the chances of their survival.
He noted: “A good number of cases come quite late; some newborn babies that require surgery within a day are coming to us at two weeks of age, coming to us at the age of one month. By the time they are coming to us, a lot of complications might have taken place and a lot of damage might have occurred to the organs. That is the biggest problem that we have,” he said.
The surgeon whose lecture was titled “Newborn Surgery in a Developing World: Dissecting the Gains, Challenges and Advances,” said that in most cases, such cases came to them late because of late referrals. “These children were born in hospitals, maternities and health centres; so, they must have been seen by the healthcare workers. But these healthcare workers could not address these problems early and that is the main reason they are coming to us late,” he regretted. He also blamed the late presentation of the newborn for treatment on ignorance and poverty, saying some parents may not be aware that their babies had a problem, while others who do not have the resources may decide to wait until they get financial assistance.
“So, by the time they are coming, the babies are already weak and tired. For something you need to operate within a day, they are coming after two weeks; that is very bad. Another challenge we found is lack of facilities; we are working literally with our bare hands. Newborn surgery requires a lot of facilities to look at the baby, take care of the baby, monitor the baby and pre-empt problems before they come. But we don’t have those facilities. However, some medical facilities in the country have managed to acquire some of the facilities and through my interaction with some centres overseas we have been able to get some of the facilities, but they are not enough.”
Ekenze stated that his lecture was primarily to create awareness that newborn surgery was feasible and could be done “with excellent result in our country, in our centres here and in other centres in Africa. And to let the people be aware that they can send their babies early for surgeries that could save their lives.”