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JUTH, UNIJOS to begin kidney transplant
The Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH) has begun working with the University of Jos to launch a kidney transplant center.
Dr. Pokop Bupwatda, Chief Medical Director of JUTH, said this in an interview on Sunday in Jos.
Bupwatda stated that the project would be launched with a N1 billion grant from the Tertiary Trust Education Fund.
The CMD stated that work had already begun because some equipment had been provided.
“The construction of the Tissue Typing Laboratory is ongoing, and both institutions are providing human and material resources to start the kidney transplant center.
“Currently, we have some personnel who have gone outside Nigeria for training, while others are training in the country,” he said.
Regarding the hospital’s particular services, Bupwatda stated that JUTH was one of the teaching hospitals designated by the Federal Government to house a cancer treatment center, which he claimed would reduce the load on cancer patients.
Bupwatda said that the process had begun and that the federal administration was determined to see it through.
“The coordinating minister of health and social welfare, Prof. Ail Pate, has taken this seriously, and we have had a series of meetings concerning it.
“A team has been sent to conduct an assessment, and the Federal Government has provided the funds.
“We are trying to see how we can bring in partners and collaborators for its sustenance.
“By the time it becomes operational, many Nigerians will have relief, as the Federal Government is working to have many cancer treatment centers in the country to lessen the cancer burden,” he said.
The CMD also stated that the hospital’s Ear, Nose, and Throat (ENT) doctors, in collaboration with a team of surgeons from Jacksonville, Florida, USA, successfully performed a cochlear implant surgery earlier this month.
The cochlear implant, according to Bupwatda, is an electronic medical device that replaces the function of the injured inner ear (cochlear) to provide sound signals to the brain.
He went on to say that the implant was designed to restore the damaged part’s lost activity and remedy the hearing impairment.
The CMD stated that the procedure will help curb medical tourism because more deaf people will be able to get the service at JUTH.
He claims that JUTH is the only hospital in West Africa that possesses a temporal bone dissection laboratory.
Bupwatda also stated that JUTH’s ENT Faculty trained residents from the West Africa College of Surgeons this month.
In 2017, a team of surgeons from the Jacksonville Hearing and Balance Institute in Florida, led by Dr. James Douglas Green, trained 12 JUTH doctors in cochlear implants.
