A consultant orthopaedic surgeon at the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi, Dr. Mufseer Owoola, has debunked insinuations that the centres thrive on amputation.
Owoola said orthopaedic hospitals are not amputation centres
He spoke at the Medical Caravan organised by The Muslim Congress (TMC) in Mushin, Lagos.
The surgeon said: “Orthopaedic hospitals have done a lot of successful surgeries. The limbs they have to amputate are the ones that have gone to the traditional bonesetters.
‘’About 99.9 per cent of those cases that come to Igbobi end up with amputation of the hand or the leg because the traditional bonesetters had complicated their cases. At the point they brought them, we were between saving lives of the patients by cutting off the hand or letting them die with the complications.
“Mind you, when they come, they have to sign consent before we can even take off the hand. If they refuse to sign the consent, we cannot do anything.”
TMC Chairman in Mushin Dr AbdulLateef Akegbeyale said the outreach was to commemorate the World Health Organisation (WHO) Day on Arthritis.
Akegbeyale, who is a principal medical doctor at Yaba Medical Centre, said over 500 people benefited from the outreach.
“This outreach was to create awareness on arthritis; we got drugs from pharmaceutical companies and gave medications to those who needed it; doctors and nurses are here to check participant’s sugar and blood levels as well as HIV tests.
Afrachem Limited Marketing Manager Abimbola Bowotu urged participants to take good care of their health.
“I advise all participants to take priority to their health. Health is wealth. People should try as much as possible to give priority to their wellbeing,” Bowotu said.
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