The Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH), and the University of Jos (UNIJOS) are collaborating to set up a kidney transplant center.
The Chief Medical Director (CMD) of JUTH, Dr. Pokop Bupwatda, disclosed this in an interview on Sunday in Jos.
Bupwatda said that the project is set to take off with a N1 billion grant given to the university by the Tertiary Trust Education Fund (TETFund).
The CMD said that work had already commenced as some equipment had already been supplied.
”The construction of the Tissue Typing Laboratory is ongoing, and both institutions are providing human and material resources to start off 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.
On the hospital’s special services, Bupwatda also said that JUTH was one of the teaching hospitals that the Federal Government had chosen to site a cancer treatment center, which he said would lessen the burden of those with cancer.
Bupwatda revealed that the process had commenced and that the federal government was determined to ensure its take-off.
“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 further disclosed that the hospital’s Ear, Nose, and Throat (ENT) surgeons, along with a team of surgeons from Jacksonville, Florida, U.S., also successfully conducted a cochlear implant surgery earlier this month.
According to Bupwatda, the cochlear implant is an electronic medical device that replaces the function of the damaged part of the inner ear (cochlear) to provide sound signals to the brain.
He further explained that the implant was constructed to restore the lost activity of the affected part and correct the hearing impairment.
The CMD said that the surgery would help reduce the spate of medical tourism as more deaf people could access the service at JUTH.
According to him, JUTH is the only hospital in the entire West African region that has a temporal bone dissection laboratory.
Bupwatda further said JUTH’s ENT Faculty also this month trained residents from the West Africa College of Surgeons.
In 2017, a team of surgeons led by Dr. James Douglas Green from the Jacksonville Hearing and Balance Institute, Florida, U.S., trained 12 doctors from JUTH in cochlear implants.
