For the treatment of kidney stones and related diseases, patients won’t be going through painful surgical operation again.” These were the words of the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, during the launch of a lithotripsy machine donated by Idowu Obasa to the Urology Unit of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja, Lagos.
According to Abayomi, biometric equipment will make a huge impact on the condition of stone formation in vital organs of patients. “Instead of cutting up the body, which might lead to all kinds of surgical complications or admission in the hospital for days, this modern technology allows us to put patients in front of a machine that delivers shocking sound waves and it will shatter these stones from the body in few minutes. We need to be grateful for the evolution and the advancement of medical biotechnology that makes the practice of medicine easy, faster and saver for our patients,” he said.
The Minister noted that kidney stones are precipitated mainly by dehydration, urging Nigerians to develop the habit of hydration. While appreciating the donor for his generosity towards supporting the healthcare sector in the state, Abayomi called on other Nigerians to emulate the kind gesture to standardise the medical infrastructure.
“Stones are quite common in all populations, particularly in tropical populations where there is a lot of heat, and one of the predispositions of kidney stones is dehydration. In this environment, many people don’t drink enough water and then kidney stones form. So drinking about two and a half litres of water per day will help to flush out the waste products without creating the opportunity for these stones to crystallise and settle. Kidney diseases are caused by a variety of things: blood pressure, diabetes, dehydration, toxins in your food, infections, malaria etc.
“Generally, following the tenets of public health, which is taking your vaccinations on time, making sure you are reducing your risk to infections, managing your metabolic disorders, which are blood pressure, hypertension and overweight and paying attention to good nutrition, good rest and hydration. The metabolic syndrome is a very serious one because as people live sedentary lives, they start to put on weight; the sugar profile goes out of control, and they develop hypertension. All of these damage the kidneys; so everyone must pay attention to their diet, exercise, weight, type of foods we eat, good rest and good hydration.”
The Chief Medical Director, LASUTH, Prof Adetokunbo Fabamwo, said with the newly donated lithotripsy machine, kidney stones patients will experience bill reduction. “We couldn’t afford the machine because it’s very costly. What we usually do is to arrange with a private company that would bring it to us and we will pay money, but now that our donor has come to our aid, the pricing fee for using the equipment for patients will become much cheaper because we don’t have to pay any rental fees to any private company again.
“This is equipment that can – without any surgical operation – break down stones anywhere in the body. Kidney stones are common, but stones can be in the kidney and gallbladder and can even be in the urinary bladder. Normally, if you have to treat this condition, you have to carry out a major surgical operation to remove the stones one by one, and then you close up again. The patient would need to spend at least one week in the hospital. The patient would need heavy antibiotics used to make sure that it doesn’t develop an infection; he/she would also need to be nursed by several doctors and nurses over a while but with this lithotripsy, the patient won’t need to stay overnight. The stones will be broken down by the machine, dissolve into a powder form and extracted from the body.”
In his response, Obasa narrated his ordeals when he travelled to treat related disease in India as there was no lithotripsy machine in Nigeria. “In 2009, I used this machine in India for a procedure in just a normal hospital, not private, not expensive and honestly it’s shameful that we have to go to India to get things that we ought to get here. My experience in India inspired me and I said, why should India have these machines scattered all over the place and we don’t have any here?”