Dr Oseremen Shadrach-Aisuodione,
a Consultant Urologist, on Friday said that the country did not have
enough urologists to attend to the healthcare needs and services of
Nigerians.
Shadrach-Aisuodione, who works with
College of Health Sciences, University of Abuja, made the call in an
interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
He
said that there were not enough urologists considering the large
population and that the insufficiency needed to be addressed for better
service outcomes.
According to him, there are few
number of urologists in Nigeria, currently put at less than 300 in a
country of over 170 million people.
He said that
urology was a surgical speciality that deals with the treatment of
conditions involving the male and female urinary tract and the male
reproductive organs.
"The common urological
diseases in Nigeria are Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH), Cancer of
the Prostate, Urinary Tract Calculi (Stones) and Urethral Stricture
diseases.
"Prostate cancer is a leading
cancer in diagnosis and cause of cancer-related deaths among men. It is
the most commonly diagnosed cancer among Nigerian men.
"Surgical
treatment for prostate cancer, bladder cancer, urethral stricture and
benign prostatic hyperplasia can sometimes damage nerves and blood
vessels near the male organ.
“It can impair erection of the penis during sexual performance," Shadrach-Aisuodione said.
He said that there were some challenges facing urology practice in Nigeria.
"Some
of the challenges include late presentation by the patients to the
urologic surgeon, therefore making delayed diagnosis and treatment a
common problem.
"Others are that there
are no unique technological limitations, the costs of treatment in a
private urology centre may present specific challenges to such
comprehensive evaluation of patients.’’
He
said that some ways to address these challenges would involve improving
infrastructure in the rural areas, having access to finance and
developing human resource.
He tasked urologists on good practice and optimal evidence-based care that would respond to the needs of the people.
He
said that cases of cancer and related ailments in Nigerians would
reduce if people do the right thing by creating massive awareness
through electronic and the social media.
Shedrach-Aisuodione
advised the government to ensure that they practiced urology more in
rural areas of the country than the urban centres.
He
added that the evaluation of urology conditions using modern medical
technology was feasible in a developing country such as Nigeria.
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