Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) Idi-Araba, has recorded a feat in renal transplantation treatment by successfully performing its first kidney transplant on a 38 year old female last Tuesday. The patient is said to be in a stable condition.

 Addressing a press conference Thursday, the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the hospital, Professor Akin Osibogun said “this is the first renal transplantation surgery to be performed at the Teaching Hospital and enables us to join the league of Nigerian Hospitals already performing the surgery.

Medical experts have not been able to advance reasons for why there is an escalating incidence of end stage renal failure requiring kidney transplantation, but the general experience among the health care providers is that, there is an increasing rate of patients presenting in hospitals ailments relating to kidney diseases”.

Osibogun noted that before now there had been inadequate facilities to cater for renal failure in Nigeria forcing most patients with such complication to travel to either Europe or India, stressing that with LUTH joining the league of hospitals performing kidney transplantation, there is succour for people needing quality care on kidney failure.

“With this addition to the number of hospitals capable of performing this surgery, it is hoped that Nigerian patients with End-stage Renal Disease requiring renal transplantation will have improved access to services in an environment that is culturally acceptable and at a price that is more affordable to them,” Osibogun noted.

To perform the feat, Osibogun explained that it was a collaborative effort between LUTH surgeons and their counterparts from Egypt, stressing that LUTH had earlier sent a team of professionals to Egypt for training and as the hospital was performing the first transplantation, it was expedient that the trainers monitor the procedure to avoid mistakes.

He said that as the first recipient, government through the hospital’s management bore the cost of the surgery, but assured the public that subsequent transplantation at LUTH will not cost more than N2million naira.