Govt Saves N15m on each Knee Surgery

By Ministry of Information

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

The State Government says it saves about N15 million Naira for each knee replacement surgery carried out at the Braithwaite Memorial Specialists Hospital (BMSH) in Port Harcourt.

Rivers State Health Commissioner, Dr. Sampson Parker disclosed this at the commencement of the 3rd phase of the Specialist Manpower Development Programme and knee/hip replacement surgeries at BMSH.

Dr Parker expressed delight that all the surgeries in this phase were being carried out by our own doctors under the supervision of expatriates from Belgium.

He said the current exercise apart from improving healthcare delivery would build confidence in our surgeons and benefits the state economically as people from other states and the West African Sub-Region would come and have access to quality health care delivery.

The Commissioner said 10 knee replacement surgeries were carried out in this phase bringing the total number so far handled to 35.

Dr. Parker said two Orthopedic Surgeons would be sent to Belgium between August and September this year preparatory to the commencement of the 4th phase and called on Rivers People to take advantage of the on-going free knee replacement surgeries.

Also speaking, the Director of Medical and Dental Services in the State, Dr. Jonathan Hart said the State recorded 100 per cent success and advised all people with knee/hip problems to go to BMSH for screening in order to benefit from government’s gesture.