Infant Mortality: Medical Expert Seeks Improved Surgical Services for Children

    Seriki Adinoyi in Jos

    Professor and Consultant Paediatric Surgeon at the College of Health Sciences of the University of Jos, Lohfa Bali Chirdan, has called for improvement in the low-resource setting in surgical services for children to avert high infant mortality rate in the country.

    Chirdan observed this during an inaugural lecture at the university titled: ‘Surgical Services for The Small, The Smaller, and The Smallest: Existing Challenges and Strategies for Improvement in Low- Resource Settings’.

    He said many children of all ages could have conditions that may require surgical treatment and at least eight out of 10 children may need some surgical services before the age of 15 years.

    While noting that the surgical conditions could cause disabling morbidity and mortality, the don added that some of the surgical conditions are easily amenable to surgical intervention no matter how complex they may look as timely presentation and treatment of the surgical problems are essential for the child’s normal development and functional life during adulthood.

    He, therefore, urged parents and guardians to seek appropriate medical consultations as soon as these conditions are noticed by them.

    Chirdan said: “Over the past two decades, I have dedicated my practice to providing surgical services for children in low-resource settings. During these years, I have faced several challenges, including high surgical volume, delayed presentation, lack of basic equipment, and a challenging working environment. My colleagues and I have tried to introduce some innovations within the limitations we found ourselves in a number of areas to improve services.

    “I will continue to contribute my own quota of training and mentoring, research, provision of surgical services, when adopting newly available technology within our constrained setting to this group of individuals I refer to as the small, the smaller, and the smallest.”

    Chirdan said though there are many challenges that exist in the provision of surgical services for children in low-resource settings, many  of the challenges are surmountable and the prospects for surgical services in children is bright, adding that there are several strategies that are available to improve the provision of surgical services for children in developing countries.

    He said what is required is due-diligence by all stakeholders, including the government and the international community, and children in low-resource settings can have the same opportunities as those in high-income settings.

    In his remarks, the Vice Chancellor of the university, Professor Tanko Ishaya, called on the federal, states and local governments to strengthen surgical services, especially to children.

    Represented by the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academics), Prof Rahila Gowon, the VC said being the leaders of tomorrow, the government can only do more to help these children in the face of challenging infrastructure deficits in the society.