Benin – A Neurosurgeon, Dr David Udoh, has called for more anpower training and investment in neurosurgery in the country.
Udoh, who is a consultant at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Benin on Tuesday.
According to him, a neurologist treats diseases of the brain and the spinal cord with drugs while a neurosurgeon treats such diseases with drugs, and carries out surgical operations when necessary.
“The burden of neurosurgery in this country is great because wherever you have neurosurgical facilities, you will find that for every single specialist, they usually, have the most number of patients in the hospital.
“In parts of North and South Africa, we have a ratio of about one neurosurgeon to 400,000 persons which is a lot better than what we have in West Africa.
“Here, we have one Neurosurgeon to every 10,000,000 patients; may be at best, one Neurosurgeon to every eight or nine million persons.
“The solution is man power training because we need much more people to do the job,’’ he said.
He called on all stakeholders to put measures in place to encourage more people to study Neurosurgery and to provide the environment that would allow the field to thrive.
“There are various ways to encourage people to do what they need to do.
“We need a lot of funding for equipment; this will help to improve the kind of essential care that we can give to our people and the number of people that come into the speciality.
“It may also improve and the way people see neurosurgery.’’
Udoh advised patients with persistent symptoms to seek proper medical attention to prevent complications.
“There are so many conditions that can occur and make a patient require the attention of a neurologist or neurosurgeon.
“If you have a persistent headache or a neck or back pain that is affecting your hand or leg function.
“If you have an eye problem that the eye doctor or prescription of glasses cannot treat and so many other persistent conditions, see a neurologist or neurosurgeon,’’ he said.