By Idris Khalid A Nigerian Professor of Surgery, Pediatrics and Epidemiology practising in the United States, Dr. Benedict C. Nw...
By Idris Khalid
A Nigerian Professor of Surgery, Pediatrics and Epidemiology practising in the United States, Dr. Benedict C. Nwomeh, has called for greater investment in the socio-economic wellbeing of Nigerians, saying the challenges confronting children cannot be effectively addressed without improving the living conditions of their families.
Nwomeh made the call on Thursday while speaking with journalists after delivering a paper titled, "What the Theatre Doesn't Teach You: Insights from a Career in Surgical Education," at the 25th anniversary conference of the Association of Paediatric Surgeons of Nigeria (APSON), held at the Ahmadu Bello International Conference Centre (ICC), Bauchi.
The surgeon, who is vice-chair of global surgery in the department of Surgery at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, United States, also called for greater efforts to encourage young Nigerians to pursue paediatric surgery as a career.
He said children remained among the most vulnerable members of society and deserved access to quality and timely healthcare.
Nwomeh said his major message to students and medical residents was for them to first identify the kind of professionals they wanted to become before choosing a career path or medical specialty.
"I especially want to encourage them to choose paediatric surgery because there is nothing more precious than taking care of the most vulnerable, which are infants and children," he said.
According to him, Nigeria’s large young population requires quality medical care, making paediatric surgery an important area of specialisation.
He said he was particularly interested in inspiring, recruiting and mentoring young Nigerians from secondary school through university and medical school to consider paediatric surgery as a professional career.
Speaking on the state of paediatric surgery in Nigeria, Nwomeh said children continued to face multiple socio-economic and infrastructural challenges that affected their ability to access appropriate healthcare.
He identified poverty, inadequate access to safe drinking water, insufficient healthcare facilities and poor road networks, particularly in rural communities, among the major challenges.
"If you look at the Nigerian child, which is the population that we serve, the Nigerian child currently is beset with a lot of difficulties," he said.
He noted that paediatric surgeons witnessed the consequences of these challenges daily, particularly when children and their families struggled to obtain the medical attention they needed.
According to him, poor access to healthcare facilities and difficult transportation from rural communities could delay treatment and worsen the conditions of children requiring specialised surgical care.
The surgeon also called for more research and policies addressing the broader socio-economic conditions affecting Nigerian families, stressing that the wellbeing of children was closely linked to that of their parents and communities.
"It is not only the Nigerian child that is suffering. It is the entire society that is suffering," he said.
Nwomeh said improving the socio-economic conditions of Nigerians remained critical to achieving better child health outcomes.
He identified poverty and hunger as major concerns, noting that the economic circumstances of parents could directly determine whether children received adequate food, healthcare and other basic necessities.
"If the mother can't eat, the child is not likely going to eat well. If the father goes to work and they don't get a living wage, if the salary cannot support feeding the family, basic transportation and basic healthcare costs, then the child is going to be affected," he said.
The paediatric surgeon therefore urged governments at all levels to prioritise policies and programmes capable of improving the economic conditions of ordinary Nigerians.
He also urged leaders to remain focused on the welfare of citizens, particularly those who elected them into public office.
The President of the Association of Paediatric Surgeons of Nigeria (APSON) and Consultant Paediatric Surgeon at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Prof. Roland Osuoji, has stressed the need for more specialised doctors to address surgical conditions affecting children in Nigeria.
Osuoji said the conference was organised against the backdrop of the large proportion of children in Nigeria’s population and the need to ensure that they have access to appropriately trained specialists.
"You know that about 40 percent of the population are children, and we really need doctors and specialists to take care of these children," he said.
The paediatric surgeon identified hernia as one of the common surgical conditions requiring treatment among children.
He explained that some childhood hernias were congenital and could result from the failure of a normal passage in the body to close properly after birth.
According to him, the condition could allow fluid or internal organs to enter the passage and potentially result in complications such as obstruction.
He stressed the importance of early treatment once a hernia was identified, warning that delaying treatment could lead to complications.
Osuoji said childhood hernias of this type were generally not preventable because they resulted from a natural developmental process.
"It is not preventable. It is a natural thing that can occur in children. The important thing is to get it treated when you see it," he said.
He therefore advised parents and caregivers to seek medical attention promptly whenever they noticed signs of hernia in a child, rather than waiting until complications developed.
No comments