The Chief Medical Director of Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH, Professor Wale Oke, has announced the second successful kidney transplants performed by a team of indigenous medical experts in the hospital.
Addressing a press conference in Lagos on Tuesday, Oke said the institution has perfected plans to make it a routine.
He stated that the kidney transplant was part of efforts by the state government to stem medical tourism.
According to him, “60 percent of patients seen on wheel chair at international airport here in Lagos have to do with kidney issues, and most of them are going to India or the US for transplant. A lot of foreign exchange are also involved.
“One thing unique about this exercise is that the experts were all Nigerians and from LASUTH apart from one”
The Chief Medical Director also explained that a total of two successful transplants were carried out at an affordable cost.
He disclosed that the surgery was not free but at minimal cost of about N4.5 million compare to N8 million charged elsewhere.
Warning that LASUTH would not accept commercial donors for organ transplant, said right now the cost of the surgery covers cost of drugs for a period of six months.
“What we are doing now is family donation. We are also looking at going into heart transplant. We encourage Nigerians to come to the hospital for their kidney transplant at an affordable cost.,” he added.
Speaking, the leader of the team, an Associate Professor of Medicine and Consultant Nephrologist, Dr Olugbenga Awobusuyi said the team is not limiting services to kidney transplant but expanding to heart and other organ transplants.
He said the two transplants which involved four patients lasted for about seven hours.
Awobusuyi said the patients are recuperating in the ward and would be discharged by next week.
He regretted that many transplant patients are on the waiting list for donors while those with ready donors have no money to perform the surgery.
“Our challenge is lack of donors. Right now, we are using only family donor. We don’t accept commercial donors. Unfortunately many of these patients are on dialysis due to lack of donors and some of them are dying,” he stated.
