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Tag: LASUTH

  • Korea community, LASUTH kicks off free cataract surgeries for 100

    Efforts to reduce visually impaired problems in Lagos State gained a massive support with the kick off of free cataract surgeries for over 100 patients in a partnership between Korean Community and Lagos State University Teaching Hospital LASUTH.

    The Chief Medica Director of LASUTH, Prof. Wale Oke praised representatives of the Korean team when he was paid a courtesy call in his office welcoming them to Lagos and LASUTH particularly after same gesture was extended to Lagosians just last year.

    According to him “I am overwhelmed by your presence and good heart to give sight to patients who have cataract problems in Lagos State. You did over a hundred last year and here u are again all for free. Thank you. We are very greatful”

    The CMD however said LASUTH will be Oliver Twist and will therefore ask for more in the area of training for our doctors to be able to carry out surgeries in highly technical areas on our own while requesting for assistance and free procedures in other areas apart from cataract.

    “We appreciate your support on cataract but we look forward to more in other areas of medicine and i am be ready to sponsor our doctors to understudy your expertise in this area and other areas of medical practice and I wish u will grant my request” Oke appealed.

  • 10 get free cochlear implant at LASUTH

    10 get free cochlear implant at LASUTH

    Ten people- three women, two men and five children-  have regained their hearing  following a free cochlear implant sponsored by the Lagos State government.

    The surgery was conducted by the Ear Nose and Throat (ENT) team of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja.

    A cochlear implant is an electronic medical device that replaces a damaged inner ear. Unlike hearing aids, which make sounds louder, cochlear replaces the damaged parts of the inner ear (cochlea) to provide sound signals to the brain.

    For Rufai Nureni, 55, and a computer operator, the oldest recipient of the free cochlear implant, who lost his hearing 15 years ago, the day he received the cochlear transplant was significant.

    He recalled: “The gradual loss started on September 2001 and I finally lost my hearing on September 21, 2001. But the restoration process started and ended this year. I can hear the ‘Call to prayer’ bell, the ringing of my handset. The falling of items. I can say for the first time I am enjoying the government. I have no political affiliation. I heard about the programme, applied and was selected. I am really grateful to  Governor Akinwunmi Ambode,” Nureni said.

    Mrs Temitope Ogunkole,  mother of seven-year-old Darasimi, a beneficiary, said it was tough bringing up her child. “It was not easy at all. The final stage of the surgery was really gladdening. It was in three phases. The first two went well. The last one capped the effort.

    “My child lived with the hearing loss since he was nine months when he fell sick and when we took him to a general hospital. The antibiotic given to him made him to lose his hearing within two weeks. It was difficult talking to him through non-verbal communication. One cannot call him, tell him to sit or stand without tapping him and gesticulating. Little things children of his age do became hard. We enrolled him in a special school. He picked up some simple language signs.

    ‘’But based on the cochlear implant, he can now hear sounds. He is going to pick up the language soon. I am so glad it was done freely by LASUTH, and it was sponsored by the state government,” Mrs Ogunkole said.

    A civil servant, Mrs Abosede Sanya-Alabi, was all smiles. She said she had been able to hear after the treatment.

    The head of the surgical team, Dr Wale Olubi said the feat brought out the best in the team. “It was an eye-opener. We did not feel we could lose any patient. It only took us more time to do that which we could do, because we were trying to master the equipment,” he said.

    An audiologist, Mr Simeon Afolabi and Speech Language Pathologist, Miss Afolabi Mayowa, assured that with the right management, the kids would pick up appropriate language in their environment.

  • CBN fire victim relives healing at LASUTH

    CBN fire victim relives healing at LASUTH

    •Patient eats 20-30 eggs daily

    A fire victim, Kelechi Okoroji, has praised the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) management for his near-full recovery within three months.

    Okoroji urged Nigerians to have confidence in the country’s doctors, saying they remain among the best and can compete with their counterparts abroad.

    Okoroji spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on how LASUTH has been handling his case following a major fire accident.

    NAN reports that Okoroji suffered skin injuries from the fire that occurred at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Zonal headquarters in Calabar, the Cross River State capital, last March 11.

    He said he was referred to LASUTH for rehabilitation following initial treatments at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH).

    “I was a 75 per cent degree burn patient, which many thought was a hopeless case before I was referred to the Burns and Trauma Section of LASUTH.

    “There, I have been undergoing rehabilitation by a team of hardworking and committed medical personnel led by Dr Adedayo Buhari.”

    NAN reports that Buhari, a burn and reconstructive surgeon, has been on the staff of LASUTH’s Burns and Trauma Centre for about two years

    Okoroji said his condition after the incident was better imagined than experienced, adding that he is only lucky to be alive to narrate his story.

    “I am happy to say that, our medical system condemned by many as being unprofessional, was able to restore me to life. We need to have a rethink about our medical services. My case had been previously regarded as hopeless by many which made me to have a thin hope of survival. But, here I am being treated in one of the best facilities in the country. However, the doctors and nurses that treated me never gave up hope on my survival; they kept on assuring and encouraging me that I was going to survive during treatment. Imagine if I had been flown abroad without trusting the capable hands we have here, would there have been any chance of survival over there?”

    He praised the doctors and the nurses for their dedication to work.

    Okoroji advised teaching hospitals to always admit those with passion for the job as students so that they can acquire requisite trainings to handle cases similar to his.

    Okoroji also lauded the team for its encouragement during the treatment, saying: “During the treatment, I was advised not to cry or shout, so as not to lose more blood.”

    Okoroji called for more specialist hospitals for burn victims in other parts of the country so as to help those who may not make it to Lagos.

    “I think if we have about three of such institutions in the country and well equipped with medical personnel and equipment, we will be better for it. If Lagos State can build this state-of-the-art centre for us, other states should also emulate it and we will not need to travel abroad for burn surgery. God really helped the hospital to rescue me; I have only spent three months and some days between March and now when I was referred to LASUTH.”

    He said the country could combat medical tourism abroad by building hospitals with modern facilities, as there are many professionals to man them.

    “During my stay here in LASUTH, I have seen nationalities of other countries that came for treatment.

    “I am with the highest degree of burns with blood infection, others were about 50 per cent; even the nurses in Calabar doubted my survival.

    “In all, I give glory to God for my survival and equally thank the LASUTH management and staff for putting me back on my feet,’’ he said.

    Dr Buhari, who led the team that handled Okoroji’s case, said the doctors never doubted his survival because of the available facilities and expertise at LASUTH.

    “LASUTH was able to handle Okoroji’s case because we have the manpower and the facilities to handle such severe cases. Our admission rate in LASUTH is high with 5-burn patients on admission being handled by two burn-consultant surgeons and some well trained nurses. The ratio of doctor to burn patient in an ideal setting is 1 to 5, so we still need more to cope with the population of our patients,” he said

    With adequate training, he said, Nigeria would get it right.

    Buhari said his specialty was to cater for burn cases, either severe or mild, adding that the hospital has been handling such cases successfully in the past years.

    “Okoroji’s case is one of the most difficult cases I have ever managed because of the severity of his burn which was 75 per cent with deep and severe sores. There were so many bacteria in his blood streams as well as suffering from jaundices and fever. So, we have to be treating all of them simultaneously which makes his case very complicated. We have to review our antibiotic in his later condition. He was placed on special diets because he had lost virtually the first layer of his skin. This requires more protein before it can get healed. We advised him to have high calories and protein with good wounds’ care and special antibiotic treatment,” he said.

    Buhari, a graduate of the University of Jos, said the knowledge and prescription of the right nutrition helped in rehabilitating Okoroji.

    This is because nutrition is an essential key to burn patient’s rehabilitation, he said.

    “Adequate nutrition is the key to his rehabilitation; we also give him food supplement because protein is the key; he eats about 20 to 30 eggs in a day.

    “We have also been counselling him on the importance of this nutrition which he himself has been struggling to abide with because it is not easy being on such diet.

    “He also had to endure aggressive sore dressing because of the wounds,” he said.

    Buhari, however, urged the three tiers of government to increase the capacity for the management of burn and reconstructive surgeries in the country.

    “The number of those that can handle burns in the country is inadequate and there is the need for governments to sponsor more people for training within and outside the country.

    “We need to be abreast of new methods of treating burns, most especially, as it concerns special nutritious for burns’ patients.

  • LASUTH restores 10 patients’ hearing

    LASUTH restores 10 patients’ hearing

    The Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) has restored the hearing of 10 people through cochlea implant surgery.

    Its Chief Medical Director (CMD), Prof Wale Oke, said the government paid N70million for the surgery.

    He said the patients, among them six children and four adults, could now hear clearly in one ear because “it costs about N7million to do the other ear for each patient”.

    Deafness, Oke said, impedes growth, adding that the patients can now live a better life.

    “Besides this, we will send them to speech therapists to help them speak,” the CMD said.

    He said the hospital has the infrastructure and expertise to carry out the surgery, stating: “This is the first time that a hospital in Nigeria has done this number of surgeries to restore hearing”.

    According to him, the fund to buy implants and logistics is the problem.

    Head, LASUTH Ear Nose and Throat (ENT) Dr Vincent Adekoya said surgery was carried out on the patients with hearing loss, which could not be addressed by hearing aids.

    Hearing loss, he said, was the highest level of hearing problem.

    “Moreover, we accomplished bone bridge surgery for middle hearing problem in some of the patients. This is the first time it was done in Africa,” Adekoya said.

    He said the cochlea implant would pick sound through its microphone in the audio processor, adding that the audio processor analyses and codes sounds into a special pattern of digital information.

    “This information is sent and transmitted across the skin to the implant. The implant interprets the code and sends electrical pulses to the electrodes in the cochlea.  The auditory nerve picks up the signals and sends them to the auditory centre in the brain. The brain recognises these signals as sounds or hearing,” Adekoya said.

    He said hearing loss could be caused by congenital problems, such as chromosomal abnormalities (mutations and inherited problems), diseases associated with prenatal infection, maternal drug abuse and environmental factors.

    Moreover, children and adults can also suffer ear problem from sudden trauma and drug use.

    An ENT consultant at the hospital, Dr Adeyinka Adesegun, recommended neonatal screening, saying: “The best time to screen babies for hearing is the first day up to the third month. And this can be done till the sixth month and one year before people can conclude that a child is actually deaf”.

    He said early screening would help to avert pre-lingual and post-lingual deafness so that the person does not lose elasticity.

    Adesegun said treatment was obtainable at the hospital, stressing that the government, non-governmental organisation (NGO) and kind-hearted people should help indigent patients.

     

  • LASUTH performs bone bridge surgery

    LASUTH performs bone bridge surgery

    The Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) in December carried out the first successful bone bridge surgery in West Africa as well as successful cochlear implant surgeries on three deaf patients.

    The hospital also had its first successful kidney transplant carried out by the hospital’s team of urologists and nephrologists in November and discharged the patient  on December 1.

    Commissioner for Health Jide Idris made this known at the ministerial briefing in commemoration of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s one year anniversary.

    He said in the period under review, LASUTH in collaboration with Vision Care and South Korean Community in Nigeria provided free cataract surgeries for 120 Lagosians and treated 250 outpatients between November 9 and 13, last year with 100 percent success rate.

    Under the blindness prevention programme, 7, 250 patients with varying ophthalmic conditions were screened at 29 community screening venues of which 4, 867 were given free glasses.

    The commissioner said LASUTH won several international awards in the period under review as its Departments of Internal Medicine, ENT, Psychiatry and Pediatrics were granted accreditations by the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria.

     

     

  • LASUTH’s ‘Baby factory’ ready in December, says commissioner

    LASUTH’s ‘Baby factory’ ready in December, says commissioner

    The Special Baby Care Unit of Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) will be ready in December, Health Commissioner Dr Jide Idris has said.

    Idris, who made this known on Tuesday, during inspection of the project, said: “The special baby care unit will be the baby factory of Lagos. It is going to be the apex of the entire maternal and childcare units in Lagos as well as a referral centre.

    “The facility was initially scheduled for a year but will be due in nine months. We had a change of contractors because the initial contractors disappointed us, I think they ran into financial problems and we tried to bail them out a couple of times that is why the Ministry of Works terminated the contract, and the project given to a new contractor. Getting a new contractor has its own problems because they were not part of the initial plan and need to understand the intricacies of that design. Most people always shy away from it, but this contractor, Bertley and Jacob, accepted it and has assured us that it will be due in no time.”

    Dr. Idris said safety was the ministry’s major priority in taking charge of the project, adding: “The reason behind this big project is because most of the hospitals we have in the state were built a long time ago, some were not properly built, some have been overused and the patient load on them and the cost of usage they face are huge and constitutes challenges now, Dr. Jide said.

    He said the process of renovating was in line with the government’s decision and we are in the position to provide better services to the people and more facilities to scale up the services provided. People will now know that we have a special care baby unit.

    “I’m aware of the anxiety of Lagosians about this building. I know the importance people place on it and we are as anxious as the people to ensure that this is completed in good time.”

    LASUTH’s Chief Medical Director Prof Adewale Oke said: “It is supposed to be a year programme but the contractors are working so hard to make sure they complete it in nine months compared to the level of work done before the stoppage. Now the windows are there and by December we are going to have our baby factory back to its maximum production.”

  • No Lassa fever case in LASUTH – CMD

    No Lassa fever case in LASUTH – CMD

    Dr Wale Oke, Chief Medical Director (CMD), Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja, says there is no reported case of Lassa fever at the hospital.

    Oke made the clarification on Friday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

    The CMD was reacting to the rumour making the rounds that some health workers at the hospital took to their heels when a suspected Lassa fever patient was brought to the hospital.
    .
    “I am here to say categorically that nothing like that happened.

    “As we speak, there has been no reported case of Lassa fever in Lagos State and there is nobody in our casualty or anybody brought to our casualty ward that we refuse to see.

    “And we do not have anybody who has Lassa fever. We have, however, one or two patients who bleed for other reasons.

    “A patient had a bleeding from the nose which is called epistaxis; that can be caused by a lot of things, including hypertension.

    “The other patient just had suspected meningitis and they are in the hospital, they are being well attended to and they are improving,’’ he said.

    The director said that the hospital had put a system in place in collaboration with the state Ministry of Health to check infestation and spread of Lassa fever.

    “For Lassa fever, we have to create beds and we are making efforts to do that so that we can have a triage area where cases which are suspected can be kept.

    “And finally, cases proven to be positive will now be transferred to the infectious disease unit,’’ Oke said.

    He urged the public to practice the universal safety precaution against the disease, including handwashing and reduced contact with an infected person.

    “Anybody you suspect that has the illness, you should either report it, or have minimal contact with the person.

    “The hospital has even gone further to invite the Ministry of Environment to come and inspect and get rid of as many rats as possible in the hospital,’’ Oke said.

    Also, Dr Julius Taiwo, the Head, Medical Emergency Unit of the hospital, said: “We do not run away from patients. This place is a tertiary hospital and we know what to do with all our patients.

    “The case of a suspected Lassa fever patient that was brought to the hospital was attended to by our doctors and nurses.

    “The patient was reviewed by a consultant physician and was also reviewed by the hospital’s clinical microbiologist.

    “And right now, the patient is in the ward; he is stable and is doing well.

    “That we just suspected Lassa fever does not mean that all suspected cases are going to be positive.’’

    Taiwo said that the hospital was fully prepared to attend to any patient who was brought on emergency.

    He said that the emergency unit had provided a quadrangular area outside the unit where patients suspected to have infections would be attended to.

    “We have a quadrangular area where we do our sorting out of patients.

    “So, those that are suspected to have dangerous infectious diseases like Lassa fever will be placed on a stretcher where such patients will be held.

    “All other things that we need to do will be done on the patient right there.

    “And if the patient is confirmed to have any dangerous infection that needs to be separated from others, we call our ambulance unit.

    “They will come and evacuate the patient to where government has designated for treatment,’’ he said.

    A Consultant Physician at the hospital, Dr Tunmise Bamisele, who had attended to the patient when he was brought in, said that the patient was responding well to treatment.

    “We have been able to stabilise the patient; he came in on Wednesday with a history of bleeding from the nose which happened when he got to his office.

    “When he came, we evaluated him and we found out that the bleeding can be coming from three possibilities.

    “These include haemoptysis, as a result of high blood pressure, which we recorded when he came in.

    “He can be having haemoptysis, which are infectious agents affecting the lungs.

    “And thirdly, it can be as a result of haemorrhagic fever in which Lassa fever is one of that.

    “In view of that, we had to quarantine him and evaluate him properly and invited the microbiologist, the state epidemiologist and hospital community head departments to also review the patient,’’ Bamisele said.

    The consultant said that prior to the evaluation; he had started treatment in controlling the bleeding, anti-hypertensive and rehydration.

    He said that the patient’s blood was taken for possible grouping and cross-matching and the medical team on call duty had reviewed the patient.

    Bamisele said: “We all agree that most likely it may not be Lassa fever.

    “But, we still have to suspect it and screen him for it as well, while we continue treatment for haemoptysis and hypertension.

    “The patient is responding well to treatment though there was an episode of fever over the night, but the bleeding has stopped and we are controlling the blood pressure.

    “And we are evaluating possible cause of haemoptysis, while we want to exclude completely, possibility of Lassa fever.’’

    The suspected Lassa fever patient, Mr Adetoye Oyewole, who is a private security officer, said that he was responding well to treatment and thanked the medical team for attending to him.

    “I am feeling very well, but I only feel a little pain when I cough, but I am glad that I am doing well now,’’ he said.

  • LASG urged to maintain LASUTH facilities

    LASG urged to maintain LASUTH facilities

    Lagos State Government has been charged to look into the issue of lack of facility managers at theLagos University Teaching hospital (LASUTH) Ikeja, in order to sustain its high ratings in facility management and hygiene in the health care sector of the state. Head of Domestic Services, LASUTH, Mr Olayinka Scot, made this call during the 10th annual conference of Health Attendants and Caregivers at the weekend.

    According to him, “the disengaged facility managers’ responsibilities are now on the attendants, who cannot leave the hospital dirty. Now, they are the ones cleaning the premises and making the whole environs clean so that the hospital can maintain the class it is known for in hygiene.” Scot, who is an Assistant Director, however advised the caregivers to take advantage of the conference to build their knowledge and capacity needed to be at their best as much more is expected of them by the management.

    He said, “chasing after money from dubious means or act like sourcing for sensitive documents on behalf of patients and their families from unauthorised means has grievous consequences.” He appealed to attendants to face their duty, avoid bickering and gossips around as well as comport themselves in the most acceptable ways in the presence of patients and their families assuring them that the management will reward staff with notable and acceptable character.

     

  • Pre-medical Muslim students visit LASUTH

    Pre-medical Muslim students visit LASUTH

    To enhance their knowledge, pre-medical students of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) have gone on excursion to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja.

    The students, under the banner of Muslim Medical Students’ Association (MUMSA), an arm of Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria (MSSN), were led by the association’s Coordinator, Daud Abdus-Salaam, a 100-Level Physiotherapy student.

    They were 100-Level students drawn from the departments of Physiotherapy, Nursing, Medicine and Surgery, Radiography, Pharmacology, Physiology, Pharmacy, Dentistry and Medical Laboratory Science.

    According to Daud, the tour was aimed at sensitising members of the association on the ethics of medical practice and modern equipment.

    He said the association was saddled with improving its members’ knowledge and and intellectualism, adding that the excursion would prepare them for challenges ahead.

    Some of the departments visited by the students include hematology, pharmacy, dental clinic, physiotherapy and the pediatric wards, during which they had interaction with patients.

    Addressing the students, head of Physiotherapy Department, Dr Fatai Fadeyi, described the discipline as indispensable unit in the hospital. He said the department has equipment, such as shortwave diathermy, electromagnetic stimulator and lacer machine used as pain relief.

    At the Department of Hematology, the students were taught how the consumption of large volume of water by sickle cell patients could prevent them from dehydration.

    The students described excursion as educative, praising the leadership of the association for the trip.

  • LASUTH holds symposium

    LASUTH holds symposium

    Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) will tomorrow hold a symposium/baby show at its premises in commemoration of this year’s World Breastfeeding Week (WBW).

    The theme is Breast feeding and work, let’s make it work.

    This, the hospital said, was to demonstrate the importance and health benefits of breastfeeding.

    Wife of Lagos State Governor, Mrs Bolanle Ambode, is expected as Special Guest.