Lagos conducts free goitre surgery for residents

                                                            Dr Idris

Expression of joy and relief were on the faces of the beneficiaries of the Lagos State Government free goitre mission, as they lay on their beds having undergone goitre operation. Their joy and relief were infectious as their family members were around to wish them well and attend to their needs.

Narrating her experience, a business woman, Mrs Temitayo Abiola, whose seven-year-old daughter, Inioluwa Abiola, was one of the beneficiaries, said she could not explain how her daughter had  the goitre. Her girl was the youngest beneficiary of the gesture. According to her,  the goitre had been appearing and disappearing in the last two years, adding that she got to know about the free mission programme through a friend. She expressed her satisfaction with the state government’s initiative.

A staff member of Lagos State and mother of five children, Mrs Archibong Ekaete had her goitre of 17 years operated. The 42-year-old Archibong told The Nation  that a colleague informed her of the free mission during Governor Fashola’s administration and how people were registering their names for the surgery at the state Ministry of Health. “I went to register. I have even forgotten about it. Last week, I received a call that they have started the free surgery and that I should report at LASUTH, and I did. I am satisfied with everything. It is absolutely free of charge. Kudos to the health family and the administration of Governor Akinwunmi Anmode,” she enthused.

Another beneficiary, Mrs Oluwakemi Aiyegbusi, a civil servant, who works with Ministry of Information and Strategy, said she has had goitre for 13 years before she eventually benefitted from the free surgery. “I have been hearing about Free Medical Mission of the Ministry of Health, but this is the first time I will be participating in same. It is a wonderful programme, especially for those who could not afford same or did not understand what goitre surgery was. I had done goitre surgery before, but it was partial. This time, it was total and never to grow again. It is absolutely free. Everybody was nice-the surgical team, LASUTH staffers and management and the Health Ministry.”

Explaining how the 19 recipients came about the programme, the officer-in-charge of the mission, Lagos State Ministry of Health, Dr (Mrs) Dolapo Fasawe, said the service was free for sufferers, who could not afford the N250,000 to N500,000 for the surgery, depending on how big the goiter is and if done in a private or public facility.

“Goitre is a swelling of the thyroid gland that causes a lump to form in the front of the neck. The lump will move up and down when you swallow. The thyroid gland is a small butterfly-shaped gland in the neck, just in front of the windpipe (trachea).

“This particular medical mission is a continuation of the initiative by the state government, as a result of people of Badagry that were discovered with high incidence of goiter. Then a lot of them had gone to seek traditional help. On further investigation, we discovered that it was caused by environmental factors. So, the State stepped in and here we are today. We started with the screening of patients, investigations and surgery, which was the last stage. After the surgery, we do counseling and lifestyle modification.”

Dr Fasawe explained that Goitre can be caused by diet, salt usage, or lack of it. “Goite is common in areas with fresh water. Governor Ambode is committed to helping the people of Lagos, especially those that cannot afford the cost of quality healthcare. He is offering accessible and affordable quality healthcare. He is encouraging the people of Lagos to live healthy and embrace lifestyle modification.

“He has committed billions of naira to the Ministry of Health for infrastructural development and free medical services, including this goitre surgery. At the screening programme, we had 22 patients, 19 were done, and three had other diseases that would be treated before they could go for the goitre surgery. It is an on-going programme. We have a register at the Ministry of Health to collect prospective recipients’ names and their contacts.”

She said the surgeons and the team were staffers of Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), comprising over 75 personnel, four consultant surgeons, four consultant anesthetics, senior registrars, nurses and nurses assistants. The lead surgeons are Dr Modele and Dr Oludara and the Lead anesthetics is Dr Odubiyi.

The Commissioner of Health, Dr Jide Idris said it all started as a result of the discovery of goitre in Badagry some months ago. “We looked into why a lot of people were having goitre in that environment. We resolved to assist the people with goitre that time. And this is a continuation. The patients were extensively screened and now everyone of them has been successfully operated upon. Histology was done to ensure none had cancer because that region is highly susceptible to cancer. Other routine screenings were done to ensure they were fit for surgery. I am encouraging more people to come on-board NHIS,” he said.

Dr Modele said the experience was exciting, having to perform operation on 19 cases, and that his team could do a lot more with more funds, machines and equipment. “So, we do more and improve on what we are doing,” he said.

Giving insight into the whole exercise, consultant surgeon, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) and Lagos State University College of Medicine (LASUCOM), Dr Funsho Omodele said: “The patients went through three stages- pre-operation to determine if the patients were fit for the surgery, two patients developed track infection and were exempted and would be operated on later. For elective cases, we don’t want to lose any patient. And the third part, the operation itself, where we put in expertise as a team and now post-operation. We will further examine the tissues brought out, so we can counsel them on what to take and the drugs required, based on the results of the histology. As we had 19 patients, all of them could not come up with the same results. So, that is where individualistic counseling comes in. Counseling is important after operation because it is common with Nigerians to always run away after surgical operation and then come in again, because they did not avoid what to be avoided. Patients must not be lost post operation, especially where tissue removal is required, reason being that all the tissue might not have been removed, and what is operated may grow again.”