• A surgeon performing tele-robotic surgery.

Nisa Premier Hospital, Abuja, has partnered with RoboMed Global and The Redeemer’s Health Village (RHV) to successfully perform what the hospital described as the first tele-robotic surgery in Nigeria and West Africa.

The landmark kidney cancer surgery was performed on a patient at Nisa Premier Hospital, Abuja, while the surgeon, Professor Obi Ekwenna-Davis, remotely controlled the robotic surgical platform from Redeemer’s Health Village in Lagos.

The procedure, which lasted approximately three hours, was performed to remove a kidney affected by a cancerous tumour.

The hospital said the patient had been discharged following the successful procedure, although details about the patient’s identity and condition were withheld for privacy reasons.

Speaking during an event to mark the milestone, the Chief Executive Officer of Nisa Premier Hospital, Dr Ibrahim Wada, said the development demonstrated the potential of tele-robotic surgery to connect specialist surgical expertise with patients across Nigeria.

Wada said the procedure was carried out using the MicroPort robotic surgical platform installed at Nisa Premier Hospital, with the remote surgeon controlling the system from Lagos.

He said the development could reduce the need for Nigerians to travel abroad for specialised medical treatment, thereby reducing expenditure on international travel, accommodation and medical services.

According to him, the technology also creates an opportunity for Nigerians to access specialised expertise from doctors located in other parts of the world without requiring the doctors to travel physically to Nigeria.

Source: Daily Trust

A locally produced herbal concoctions known as ‘Monkey Tail’ in Ondo State has killed 49 people .

The Commissioner for Health in the State, Dr Banji Ajaka, who disclosed this on Wednesday night, said the number of affected persons has now climbed to 170.

He explained that the latest deaths were recorded in Irele Local Government Area of the state, where eight persons have died from suspected poisoning.

Ajaka disclosed that health authorities had deployed response teams to Irele LGA and other affected communities to conduct surveillance, manage cases and trace the source of the suspected toxic substance.

| Bayelsa State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Seiyefa Brisibe

The Bayelsa State Government has said it will deploy 19 doctors, 210 nurses and midwives, 185 pharmacy technicians and about 50 laboratory medical technicians to primary healthcare centres across the state to strengthen clinical services at the grassroots.

The State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Seiyefa Brisibe, disclosed this on Friday while speaking on the government’s efforts to improve healthcare delivery at the grassroots during a training organised by the Health Emergency Initiative, under the sponsorship of FIRST E&P, tagged First Respondent First Respondent Training and Medical Intervention Programme.

Brisibe said, “We are deploying 19 doctors, 210 nurses and midwives, 185 pharmacy technicians and about 50 laboratory medical technicians to strengthen the clinical component of our primary healthcare centres.”

He said the deployment was aimed at strengthening the clinical component of primary healthcare centres, which, according to him, were often largely run by community health extension workers and environmental health officers.

The commissioner said the deployment of doctors, nurses and midwives would make primary healthcare centres more attractive to residents and encourage women to seek professional care during childbirth.