Abia specialist hospital records first brain surgery

The Abia State Specialist Hospital and Diagnostic Centre, Umuahia, has recorded a major milestone in specialist healthcare delivery with the successful performance of its first major brain surgery.

Speaking on Tuesday on the outcome of the State Executive Council meeting held on Monday and chaired by Governor Alex Otti, the Commissioner for Information, Prince Okey Kanu, said, “The successful neurosurgical operation was part of the massive transformation taking place in the state’s health sector as a result of sustained investment by the Governor Otti administration.”

Also speaking, the Commissioner for Health, Professor Enoch Uche, provided further details on the successful brain surgery, explaining that the 19-year-old patient was brought to the hospital in a deep coma with a Glasgow Coma Scale score of six out of 15, which later dropped to five.

Uche said the patient’s condition was critical because massive bleeding into the brain was compressing the brainstem, making immediate surgery necessary. He noted that any attempt to refer the patient to another facility could have resulted in his death.

He said, “Because we now have facilities to undertake brain surgery, and then we have brain surgeons in the State employed by His Excellency, that surgery was done.”

He disclosed that more than 100 millilitres of blood clot was evacuated from the patient’s brain and that the young man had subsequently started moving his limbs while receiving care in the Intensive Care Unit.