Life-changing 9-hour operation at state hospital
The Pietersburg Provincial Hospital recently assisted an 18-year-old patient from the Sekhukhune District by removing a tumor that started affecting his quality of his life.
The boy, who had aloblastoma, had been moving from one doctor to another and one hospital to another without receiving the necessary assistance. He also had to drop out of school when the weight of his tumor prevented him from living an ordinary life.
Last Wednesday, Health MEC Dr Phophi Ramathuba received him at the Pietersburg Provincial Hospital, after maxillofacial specialist Itani Dikgale booked him for a day-long operation at the institution.
The patient was operated on April 7 and the operation lasted more than nine hours.
According to a statement on the department’s social media page, a 2.5kg tumor mass was extracted, mandible resection and reconstruction with titanium plate was done.
Ramathuba took the time to visit the patient to wish him a speedy recovery.
She thanked Dikgale and the team for being there when such intervention is needed.
“This is a life-changing intervention. The confidence of the young man has been restored. We cannot imagine what it was like for a 17-year-old to carry the mass equivalent to a full-term baby on his chin and be expected to live like any other teenage boy.
That is why we will continue to appreciate our clinicians who go beyond their call of duty to make sure our people receive the best services.”
The MEC says that the young man is recovering well in ICU.
She says the mood at the hospital was that of a job well done as the staff rejoiced at the surgery which will assist the young man to live an ordinary life.
Ramathuba has also thanked the whole team that took care of him saying that the surgery was only possible through a combined effort by the staff of the hospital including the dentist, anesthetists, theatre nurses and ICU nurses who are currently making sure they nurse him to recovery. She also thanked the ward nurses who prepared him for operation and will continue to nurse him to recovery.