The recent successful separation of conjoined twins, Goodness and Mercy Martins, at the National Hospital, Abuja is good news to all Nigerians. It is gratifying too that the medical feat was performed by Nigerians. The team carried out the complex surgery for 12 and half hours on November 14, 2019 in Abuja.
We commend the entire team of 78 medical experts and their support staff carefully put together over a period of 15 months between when the twins were delivered in Keffi, Nasarawa State on August 4 2018 and when the delicate operation was finally carried out. According to the spokesman of the National Hospital, Abuja, Dr. Tayo Haastrup, the girls are the first to be successfully separated at the hospital. “We are just happy and proud that the members of the team that worked on this surgery were all Nigerians. It was done in Nigeria and the parents didn’t have to go outside the country,” said Haastrup.
Addressing a press conference to announce the feat, the Minister of Health, Dr. Ehanire Osagie, underscored the importance of the breakthrough to the country: “The ability of these experts to work together means that we can stand up to many international hospitals as far as advanced surgery is concerned.”
The medical feat is remarkable and would further boost the confidence of our medical doctors anywhere in the world. We believe, and there is enough evidence to support this, that Nigerians can compete at the highest levels in the world, provided the enabling environment can be provided. The recent Abuja hospital feat is the latest testament to this incontrovertible fact.
No doubt, it was a complex surgery that required a careful and painstaking search and gathering of experts in a number of medical fields and related areas complete with their support staff under the leadership of Prof. Emmanuel Ameh of the National Hospital, Abuja. The inter-disciplinary team included pediatric surgeons, cardiac surgeons, plastic surgeons, nurses, imaging experts, dermatologists and other experts from across the medical and para-medical fields to carry out the complicated operation.
The twins were born conjoined at their lower chest with their intestines pumping out from their stomachs. They shared one liver, and had separate hearts with a single lining. The preparation for the surgery also required a special diet to build them up for the operation and also eliminate the chances of infections. According to the Medical Director of the National Hospital, Dr. Jaf Momoh, if the operation was to be undertaken abroad, the cost would have been in the region of N20million, an amount which the parents of the children could not afford.
It should be noted that the surgery and the 15 months of preparation time for it were at no cost to the parents of the twins. The Minister of Women Affairs, Pauline Tallen, has offered the mother of the twins a job with the ministry. This is a welcome development. It is going to assist the parents take care of the twins.
The medical feat has shown that all tiers of government should invest more in the healthcare delivery system. The professionals and other support staff have to be well motivated and remunerated in conformity with best global standards. The government should enhance the remuneration of all health workers and improve their work environment. Since health is wealth, it makes sense to invest so much in it.
Government should map out pragmatic measures to curb medical tourism among affluent Nigerians, especially the political elites. The current lip service being paid to stopping it is not enough. Government should go beyond sloganeering and urgently revamp the ailing health sector. It will save us millions of dollars spent annually on medical tourism. There are a number of gains to be reaped by the country.
We urge the Federal Government too to walk its talk and muster the political will to lead the way in the area of new investments required in the health sector particularly to bring it up to expected standard and make it to be globally competitive. Government should start with reviving the primary healthcare system, which takes care of more than 70 per cent of the nation’s disease burden.