365 indigent Nigerians to get free open-heart surgeries

The FIRST Exploration & Petroleum Development Company Limited (FIRST E&P) and the Healthy Heart Foundation have signed a N2.6 billion partnership agreement to facilitate free open-heart surgeries for indigent Nigerians suffering from heart diseases.

This collaboration aims to provide a variety of cardiovascular treatments for 365 beneficiaries over the next three years, including open-heart surgeries, minimally invasive procedures, and device insertions.

At the launch of the initiative in Abuja, Henry Ajumogobia, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Board Chairman of FIRST E&P, said that the event marks a significant advancement in healthcare accessibility for indigent populations in Nigeria but also sets a precedent for future health-related collaborations.

Ajumogobia, who noted the importance of the partnership, said, “Of the thousands of Nigerians that require heart surgery annually, only about 200 surgeries are carried out each year. At FIRST E&P, we are deeply committed to the well-being of our people, the prosperity of our communities, the preservation of the environment, and maintaining the highest standards of governance. We are pleased to provide funding to help bridge the gap in healthcare and provide critical care to those who need it most.

“Partnerships work best when the commitment is shared, and the expertise is complementary. This is exactly the case here, with partners who are deeply committed to creating social impact.”

In his remarks, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammed Ali Pate, stated that the fastest-growing segment of the burden of disease in the country is non-communicable diseases, hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases, strokes.

Pate, who blamed the increasing burden of heart diseases in the country on unhealthy lifestyles and environmental factors, among others, said, “Because we’re getting older. Our lifestyle is changing. We’re getting exposed to many things in our environment, in our diet. How do we deal with it? We don’t have the resources, the public sector even, to add to public-private spending on health. So the idea that we articulated to save lives, reduce physical and financial pain, and prevent as much as possible mental illness, and also to do so for all Nigerians.”

He noted that the federal government is working to expand health insurance to make healthcare services accessible and affordable to all Nigerians.

He said, “Many of us think we are comfortable, but in many instances, we are one major illness away from catastrophic health expenditure, and this is being taken for granted. Expanding health insurance is vital to make sure that parents are able to afford the care and the quality needed because affording care that is not qualitative will not save you. Having good quality care that you cannot also access is also not helpful. So you need both. So we are working on the health insurance side, working on the human resources side, and the quality of human beings and health.”

The minister stressed the need to build the capability of the health workforce, revamp the health infrastructure, unlock the healthcare value chain to boost health security, and ensure that commodities needed are locally produced.

Also speaking, the MD/CEO of First Cardiology Consultants and co-founder of the Healthy Heart Foundation, Dr. Adeyemi Johnson, decried the increasing cases of heart disease among Nigerians.

He said, “I came back to Nigeria in 2008; at that time, most of the cases of heart attacks were foreigners, with only a few Nigerians. Today, more Nigerians are coming down with heart attacks, heart failure, and cardiac arrest. The incidence of heart disease is increasing dramatically due to hypertension; we have the highest burden of hypertension in the world.”

“There is now an epidemic of disabilities, mostly driven by poor lifestyle choices, stress, and environment. Right now, people in their 40s are coming down with heart attacks, including women. Things are changing rapidly, and heart disease is now a major problem, but government cannot do everything; the private sector has to assist the government to address the high burden of the disease in the country.”