SEOF Facilitates $217,939 Open-heart Surgeries for 34 Patients

Oluchi Chibuzor

The Sir Emeka Okwuosa Foundation (SEOF) has revealed that it has facilitated about $217,939 open-heart surgeries for over 34 patients across the country.

Speaking at a gala night event in Lagos, to celebrate successes recorded since inception in 2019, the Chairman, SEOF, Mr. Emeka Okwuosa, attributed the results to his father’s philanthropic virtues instilled on him.

Okwuosa, said the foundation was built on the principle of giving back, and that they have demonstrated their commitment over the years towards supporting and empowering communities, including his home community, Oraifite, Anambra State.

“Through its education programmes, the foundation has awarded scholarships, and prizes, and provided education tools to over 1,500 primary and secondary school students.

“And in 2019 it completed the 600-capacity All-Girls Secondary School in Anambra State, which is home to many Nigerian girls,” he said.

He added that, “The healthcare programmes and accomplishments of the foundation included the facilitation of $217,939 open-heart surgeries for 34 patients − including one on a nine-month-old infant − at the Dame Irene Okwuosa Memorial Hospital (DIOMH) in 2022, and the provision of primary healthcare services to over 566 beneficiaries in the same year.”

Okwuosa noted that through their partnership with the Texas-based Vincent Ohaju Obioma Memorial (VOOM) Foundation, they have been able to provide subsidised and free healthcare services to over 4,000 individuals across Nigeria.

Speaking virtually at the event, the President of VOOM, Dr. Vincent Ohaju; Executive Director of VOOM, Shawn Andaya-Pulliam, andMedical Director of Missions of VOOM, Adanna Akujuo, said their partnership with SOEF and the Dame Irene Okwuosa Memorial Hospital would further impact Nigerians in wonderful ways. 

Commenting on the partnership, Ohaju, the president of VOOM, stressed the need for more partnerships in the healthcare sector because “most Nigerians cannot afford quality healthcare.”

He expressed happiness over what Okwuosa and his foundation were doing in providing cardiac surgery in Nigeria.

Okwuosa, further revealed that some of the socio-economic initiatives the foundation had accomplished included the construction of garri processing plants, the donation of motorcycles, and the provision of employment and other opportunities.

Since its inception in the 1990s, the foundation said it has impacted Nigerians in over 14 states in the country in Anambra, Borno, Adamawa, Kaduna, Abuja (FCT), Kogi, Oyo, Ekiti, Edo, Enugu, Ebonyi, Delta, Imo, and Abia. 

A member of SEOF Board of Trustees, Chibundu Okwuosa-Nwadei, emphasised that lifting people and communities had always driven the work that they do to sustainably impact the lives of individuals they encounter.