Two successful open heart surgeries have been recorded at the University College Hospital, Ibadan (UCH), Oyo state, south-west Nigeria, passing as another feat achieved in Nigeria’s public health sector.

The surgeries which were carried out on a 10-year-old with a hole in the heart and a 19-year-old, whose valve was replaced, have been described as the beginning of an ambitious cardiac programme for Nigeria and other parts of Africa.

At the end of the week-long procedure, the Chief Medical Director, University College Hospital, Ibadan (UCH), Professor Temitope Alonge urged government and well-meaning Nigerians to help fund the cardiac centre.