Exactly 22 hours ago, a message was posted on the twitter handle of the National Hospital, Abuja about an open heart surgery (Ventricular Septal Defect repair) happening live at the Trauma Centre, at the hospital in Abuja.
Dating as far back as 2012, several hospitals have taken to live-tweeting their surgery sessions to educate the people on various surgeries conducted and the process involved in making them a success. On May 9, 2012, Memorial Hermann in Houston live-tweeted a brain surgery, with graphic photographs and short videos from the OR. Also in May 2013, surgeons at UCLA live tweeted as they implanted a brain pacemaker in a 39-year-old man – updates were posted to Twitter and Instagram. For the first time in Canada, a Toronto hospital live tweeted a heart bypass operation in February of 2014, photographs and all, to educate Canadians about heart diseases. Earlier this year in February 2015, surgeons at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas live tweet as they conducted a transplant on a North Texas woman in her 30s. Also in February 2015, Hamilton hospital also live tweet Jerry Walczak’s heart surgery and progress.
Although several hospitals all over the word has done quite a number of live tweet, ranging from heart surgeries, to heart and kidney transplants, this was definitely a first to ever happen in Nigeria. With thousands of Nigerians following up and retweeting the procedures, it was truly a memorable day in the history of Nigeria. According to the information in the live tweet, the procedure was a repair of a hole in the heart. The patient was an eight-year-old girl and the ailment is congenital (she was born with it). About four hours after the surgery commenced,the concluding tweet read that “the patient had been taken off the bypass machine and the heart had taken over, and that the patient was being closed up”.
About the Writer: Eniola Adeniji is a woman after God’s own heart, a motivational Writer, Speaker, Fashion and Photography addict. She is also a Business Developer, Social Media Manager and the founder of Woman Of Value. She blogs at ennmae.wordpress.com
