The Federal Medical Centre (FM) Umuahia on Thursday and Friday successfully transplanted two kidneys from two separate donors in the hospital to two other patients also in the hospital.
The surgical team of FMC doctors and other medical professionals were led by Dr Obi Ekwenna of the University of Toledo Medical Center in Ohio USA in company of Mr James Ogbuka Umekwe.
The first transplanting was performed on Thursday on the kidney recipient, a 37-year- old businessman and native of Ohafia Abia State whose name for short is Mr Oji . A 57-year-old civil servant whose name for short is Mr Kalu, donated the Kidney to Oji.
The second transplanting was done on Friday on a 68-year-old medical doctor and native of Umuahia whose name for short is Dr Charles. A 41-year-old security man whose name for short is Mr Innocent donated his kidney to Dr Charles. Both the donors and the recipients have been confirmed to be doing very at the hospital’s intensive care unit on Saturday.
The first recipient, Oji said he had kidney issues for about four years while Dr Charles disclosed he had his own travail for about four months now.
Speaking after the transplanting, the team Leader/Surgeon, Dr Ekwenna described the surgeries as successful and excellent by any standard anywhere in the world and attributed the success of the feat to the dedication of the team , the hospital management and its Director, Dr Abali Chuku. He said, ” Dr Abali Chuku is a strong and committed leader.
We met few years ago and he expressed his desire to have transplantation center in the South East Nigeria to his FMC and I pledged to assist with my Team in Toledo”.
Dr Ekwenna also pointed out that under their partnership with the FMC Umuahia, his team will work towards transferring Skills and return to Nigeria to render more professional assistance including doing more transplantations.
Speaking on the successful kidney transplantations, the Chief Medical Director of the FMC, Umuahia, Dr Chuku Abali, said that the success of the transplantation has made the hospital’s vision in Kidney Transplant Services with target to provide the cheapest most affordable and efficient destination for kidney transplantation in the South-East.
According to him, the hospital will perform 40 kidney transplantations next year and canvassed collaboration of the public in in kidney transplantation. He disclosed that his FMC got involved in Kidney transplant in 2015 when he was honoured by the University of Toledo Ohio USA along with others from other countries.
“This university is globally known for Kidney Transplantation. After my induction into its Hall of Fame, I was asked what I would want the University do for me. And I chose establishing a Kidney Center”, Abali added. One of the two kidney recipients, Oji, expressed his gratitude to the FMC and its CMD for “providing wonderful opportunity for poor people like us without the means to go abroad for transplantation. We also thank God for using the medical team to save our lives”.
