The Association of Paediatric Surgeons of Nigeria (APSON) wants government to set up hospitals that would specifically manage the care and treatment of children in Nigeria.It said that in many cases, there are congenital anomalies- diseases that children are born with- which cause them to become traumatised. APSON president, Dr James Adeniran, stated this yesterday at its scientific conference held in Abuja noting that about 40 per cent of their work has do with these anomalies such as children who don’t have anus and cannot pass stool properly. “These are special diseases and should be treated in proper paediatric centres,” he said. Also, Dr Rajesh Dey, a Consultant Liver Transplant Surgeon at the Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, Delhi in his speech said there is an upsurge in the number of reported paediatric liver diseases because of improved diagnostic techniques. He said: “There is upsurge in terms of number because more and more children are getting detected with liver disease.”

According to Dey, the recent increases are caused by better diagnostic equipment and more trained personnel that can identify kids who have liver disease as they used to go unnoticed and unreported in the past. “Lifestyle changes affect mostly the adults and the kids are spared from that. It is mostly caused by inborn metabolic defects, some enzymes in their system and the liver doesn’t go properly,” he noted. Dey said they are in Nigeria to seek the collaboration of Nigerian paediatricians to setup children liver transplant centres to curb the increasing cost paid by parents seeking such services abroad. “If we can build up a centre in Nigeria, the cost would go down by half, and the child would not have to travel so far in a foreign land,” he said.

Source:Ladership Online