SEBOKENG HOSPITAL PERFORMS ITS FIRST BRAIN SURGERY IN OVER FOUR DECADES
The Sebokeng Hospital made history this past week when
it performed its first brain surgeries on two patients who have been
suffering from subdural haemotoma (bleeding onto the brain).
This major milestone in over forty years comes after
the recent establishment of a Neurosurgery unit at the hospital.
Previously, Sebokeng Hospital referred patients in need of brain surgery
to Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital (CHBAH).
The establishment of neurosurgery unit will see the reduction of the high
prevalence of mortality and morbidity of traumatic brain injury patients
in the Sedibeng District.
Gauteng MEC for Health and Wellness, Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko
congratulated the team, citing that the surgery bears evidence of the
support given by the Gauteng Department of Health to capacitate its
centres of excellence by ensuring that health facilities have the right skills
and equipment to render services to the public.
“As part of reclaiming the jewel of the Gauteng public health system one
of our key focus areas is to ensure that our facilities function optimally and
that infrastructure challenges are addressed as this has a direct bearing
on positive health outcomes, explained the MEC.
The Acting Chief Executive Officer of the hospital, Dr
Fhatuwani Mbara said many patients who presented at the facility with
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) were demising due to lack of immediate
neurosurgical interventions.
“TBI patients were occupying ICU beds for a prolonged duration with no
definite management plan because majority of the patients require
different types of operations ranging from skull, brain and spine surgeries.
“The newly established unit and the highly skilled team we have will ensure
that we reduce head injury related deaths that are sustained by our
patients, especially men of younger age groups,” said Dr Mbara.
The first patient is a gentleman who experienced weakness on the right
side of his body and was unable to walk or talk. The neurosurgery team
did a craniotomy on him, stopped the bleeding and removed the blood
clot. The operation took 2 hours to perform.
The second patient is a young man who was injured 3 months ago
and had subdural haemotoma. A craniotomy was also done on him and
the clot removed, however, his brain was severely swollen due to the
injury. The team did a cranioplasty to protect the brain from potential
physical harm.
The two patients have recovered well and were discharged this past
weekend to spend time with their families at home.
