Benguela — The 29th of June 2024 entered the history of the General Hospital of Benguela (HGB), when, on that date, the first partial hip prosthesis surgery was carried out, on a 42-year-old patient, ANGOP learned today.
In 124 years of existence, this is the first time that the Orthopedics team at the General Hospital of Benguela - the largest hospital institution in the province of the same name - carries out, in partnership with RF Medical Angola, an orthopedic surgery for Hip Prosthesis or Hip Arthroplasty.
The surgical procedure, on a 42-year-old adult patient, who suffered from a subcapital fracture of the femur, which had been in progress for more than three months, was completed in 30 minutes, which was considered a great success.
More than 14 members of the HGB Orthopedics team and other doctors from RF Medical participated in this surgery.
According to doctors, the patient is clinically stable in a hospital ward.
Speaking this Sunday to ANGOP, the director of the Benguela General Hospital, Divane Marcolino, praises the achievement and guarantees the start, within days, of an orthopedic surgery project for the insertion of partial hip prostheses, with priority for elderly patients.
For the manager, these are individuals over 60 years old and partial dentures could help them improve their quality of life for another five or ten years.
According to Divane Marcolino, progressively, the General Hospital of Benguela will also begin to perform surgery with complete dentures on other patients of working age.
"The idea is to introduce complete dentures to younger people, because these are still productive groups to help with the country's socioeconomic development," he said.
As complete dentures last much longer, the director of the HGB justifies the choice of this most productive segment of society in terms of the investment to be made in this area.
History
The director of HGB is proud of this feat carried out by the hospital unit, just a few days after carrying out the first silicone prosthesis implantation surgery in Angola on a 24-year-old patient who was born without a nose, due to a rare condition called arrhynia.
"It was good because in 124 years of existence of the General Hospital of Benguela, for the first time, partial hip prosthesis surgery was performed on a 42-year-old girl (...) it is to be commended", he highlighted.
He made a point of remembering that, in the past, this patient would have to be evacuated out of the country and or to a reference hospital in Luanda.
However, he added that, at this precise moment, the public health sector is not carrying out this intervention in the country's capital, with the exception of Cabinda where prosthetic surgery is also a reality.
Hence, Divane Marcolino recognizes that the Benguela General Hospital is growing and increasingly asserting itself as a reference when it comes to complex surgeries across the country.
He also took the opportunity to point out the objective of increasingly developing the province of Benguela, since, in his opinion, there are many young doctors willing to help the health sector reach new heights.
Since orthopedics and traumatology still record very high rates among the population due to road accidents and more, Divane Marcolino promises to continue investing in improving services.
Restructuring
Founded in 1900, in the 19th century, and a reference for the province, with more than two million and 500 thousand inhabitants, the General Hospital of Benguela, with 670 beds, has undergone, especially in the last three years, a restructuring to improve quality of service to users.
In 2022, the Government reallocated more than two million dollars - initially intended for the construction of a Covid-19 field hospital in Benguela - for requalification and expansion works at the hospital, which serves on average more than 400 patients/day in the emergency room adults, pediatrics and maternity.
As part of this initiative, general emergency services have already benefited from intervention, including the central maternity ward, whose operating room was reopened in December 2023, two years later, with three operating rooms, a recovery area with 12 beds and two surgery rooms. urgency.
Also noteworthy is the modernization of the Complex Pathologies Unit, opened in March 2023, with 48 beds, to receive Covid-19, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal and tumor patients.
In addition, the HGB also benefited from the new neurosurgery, otorhinolaryngology and ophthalmology services, which now offer 24 beds for the hospitalization of patients.
In the outpatient consultation area, which is very busy, the Benguela General Hospital serves more than a thousand patients/day, the majority coming from the city's outlying neighborhoods.