U.S-based Nigerian doctor seeks to revolutionize surgical procedure in Africa

Calls for partnership, collaboration from government, corporate bodies, others 

TO reduce the excessive pains women pass through during surgery, reduce the trend of medical tourism occasioned by the quest for world-class treatment by most Nigerians, while at the same time making this world-class medical technology available to an average Nigerian woman, a United States of American-based Nigerian doctor and President/Chief Medical Director, ObyGyne Consultants, Macon, Georgia, USA, Dr. Bola Sogade, has proposed to establish a world-class Obstetrics and Gynaecology Centre in Nigeria.

To be known as Obygyne Consultants Africa Projects, the centre according to the fellow of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (ACOG), would be a centre that will offer cutting-edge surgery and healthcare services; education; training; research and development, for the benefit of African women who she noted have a right to compassionate, comprehensive and convenient quality healthcare.

With main focus on cutting-edged surgery, Sogade pointed out that surgery all over the world has transcended from the way it was done decades back when big incisions are made on the body for a surgical procedure to be carried out.

She noted that these days, lesser aggressive ways of performing surgeries have emerged which accords smaller incisions and the result being lesser blood loss, less chance of infection and quicker recovery time.

These latest evolution in surgical technology, Da Vinci Surgery System and MonaLisa Touch, Sogade who performs the most robotic gynaecological surgeries in the Middle Georgia area, with over 300 completed robotic surgeries, and has performed thousands of obstetric deliveries and complex gynaecological procedures with an excellent track record of zero per cent maternal mortality intends to bring into Nigeria.

Da Vinci Surgical System is a minimally invasive surgery in which surgeons operate through just a few small incisions. This features a magnified 3D high-definition vision system and tiny wristed instruments that bend and rotate far greater than the human wrist. As a result, it enables the surgeon to operate with enhanced vision, precision, dexterity and control.

The procedure uses the latest in surgical and robotics technologies which is beneficial for performing routine and complex surgery.

The surgeon with this procedure is 100 per cent in control of the system, which translates his or her hand movements into smaller, more precise movements of tiny instruments inside the body.

While the MonaLisa Touch is a painless, minimally invasive laser treatment for vaginal rejuvenation. Making these known at a media briefing to unveil the project in Nigeria, Sogade said that “if for whatever reason, medical therapy has failed for the condition of a woman and she is offered surgical therapy, it is within her right to seek for a minimally invasive approach.”

Stating that a woman’s life is important no matter where she resides, she noted that a woman can only be cut from side to side (Bikini Cut) only when she has a proper indication for a Caesarian session.

She explained that a Da Vinci procedure is not as bad as the traditional surgical method because a woman is not cut indiscriminately, adding: “there is less chance of infection, there is less blood loss.

I do this all the time in America and I think it’s time that we expose Nigerian, African women to this.” Sogade revealed that she has many Nigerian patients who come all the way to the U.S to undergo this procedure.

She noted that it is her desire to bring down this technology down to the country so that people can stop travelling very far to access it and also to help other women who need it but don’t have the resources to travel.

The medical conditions which she listed can be tackled by the procedure include fibroid which have grown large and cannot be treated with medications; checking to know the fertility status of a woman and not puncturing the scar tissues; removal of endometriosis to aid a woman get pregnant; using the robot to look for diagnosis purposes when a woman experiences pains, among others.

Sogade further added that apart from gynaecology, the technology could also be used for men with prostate cancer. She noted that when their surgery is done robotically, there is lesser risk of complications and they also recover better; bowel and colon cancers inclusive.

She informed that her intention is to bring the technology into the country, train doctors on the rudiments, adding: “I as one person, I cannot do this by myself. I need government and private sector for the financing, I need the media to educate the women and then, I need to be able to train.

Already, I train other doctors in the U.S; I am a certified Da Vinci robotic doctor. I want to be able to train people in Nigeria and it has to start from the residency programme.

She finally called for partnership and collaboration from government, non-governmental and corporate organizations to bring this revolution to healthcare for women in Nigeria and Africa as a whole.