Accolades As Kano Medical Team Performs Open Brain Surgery

Just last week new filtered in that a team of medical experts at the Muhammadu Buhari Specialist Hospital, Kano successfully carried out a brain surgery, the first of its kind in the ancient city,  ABDULLAHI YAKUBU, Kano, visited the hospital, his report.

For Mallam Iliyasu, a patient with brain tumor, the year 2019 will go down in history as the year of his resurrection from the dead. For 26 years, Iliyasu, from Dala local government area of Kano State has carried the tumor which developed after an auto accident which affected his brain like a cause from the gods. He has moved from one hospital to another in search of solutions, but there appeared to be non in sight and he was almost at the point of resigning to fate, but suddenly, just last week, he was set free and returned to normal life again, thanks to the medical experts at the Muhammadu Buhari Specialist Hospital Kano.

It won’t therefore be out of place to say that the successful open brain surgery performed on Iliyasu by four indigenous medical practitioners in the hospital is a major breakthrough.

Even more heart warming is the fact that the medical team which include; Dr Atiku, Dr Musa, Dr Hassan and Dr Musbahu, all hail from Kano.

“This is the first brain surgery to be performed in Kano, in the history of the state,” said Consultant Neuro-Surgeon, Dr.  Shu’aibu Sule Dambatta who led the team of surgeons.

Dambatta who spoke with LEADERSHIP Weekend at the premises of the hospital, said that after a very careful study of the ailment, the team decided that surgical operation was the only solution to the long years of sufferings, pain and agonising the patient had gone through.

He said though the patient had an 11 months appointment with another hospital before coming to the hospital, “we accepted to conduct the open brain surgery on him.”

“It was a successful operation. As you can see, the patient is talking to you now, less than 24 hours after the surgery. He even goes to the rest room on his feet, just within 24 hours.”

The surgeon who expressed gratitude to God for the feat also informed that the surgery was at no costs to the patient.

According to Dr Dambatta, “His family only had to purchase the prescribed drugs. We are all happy to be part of this history, to be among the team that conducted the first open brain surgery in Kano.”

He thanked the state Governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, for his support that made the operation successful. In his words: “This development was only successful because of the efforts of the state Governor who has streamlined everything to work based on the concept of Public-Private-Partnership (PPP). That concept has helped in no small measure to give the state a state-of-the-art medical equipment which greatly helped in making our job easier and the surgical operation on the brain a reality.”

Governor Ganduje, who personally visited the patient in the Hospital at Ginginyu with an excited voice said: “We are delighted and very much impressed with this development. This proves clearly that when government is serious about anything, that thing can be achieved successfully.

“We are ever thankful to the Almighty Allah for making our dream come true. When President Muhammadu Buhari was inaugurating this giant Specialist Hospital, we revealed to the hearing of all, that, it would not be run solely by government. We designed it to work under Public- Private-Partnership (PPP) arrangement.

“We want it to serve our people, that is why we designed it to work under an arrangement where there will be no strike by the staff and the management would also work according to global best practices. This is the result of our people-centred thinking and I believe a lot of similar developments are bound to happen in this Hospital.”

He said the development is a plus to the state in the area of effective and efficient health-care delivery system, adding that, “We are thankful to President Muhammadu Buhari for creating the enabling environment for the health sector to thrive in the country.”

The patient, Iliyasu while recounting his ordeal as to the history of the ailment, said “I had been suffering from this problem for the past 26 years as a result of an accident I had.

“In the last 26 years, it has been a hell for my family as we move from one hospital to another in search of effective medical attention, but all to no avail. The last place we went, gave me an appointment of 11 months after which a surgery would be conducted on me.

“When we heard of the facilities available here at the Muhammadu Buhari Specialists Hospital, we decided to come and try. I must tell you that we only came to try because we didn’t believe they could do anything. But to our greatest surprise within the shortest possible time, I was invited, and after surgical procedures were carried out, the surgery was conducted. Not only conducted, but it was successfully conducted. Alhamdulillah! I have now regained my consciousness.”

Iliyasu who was obviously full of joy said “Before now I could not sleep. But look at me now, after the surgery I slept continuously for a straight more than seven or eight hours, deep sleep, a thing that had eluded me for over two decades.

“My family and I are indeed thankful to Allah the almighty, the Governor and the team of medical experts that helped in saving my life. I will forever leave to remain grateful to them.”