A Nigerian Hospital Live-Tweeted Open Heart Surgery On An Eight-Year-Old Girl

Nigerian hospital live-tweets the successful open heart surgery of an eight-year-old girl in Abuja.

A Nigerian Hospital Live-Tweeted Open Heart Surgery On An Eight-Year-Old Girl

Via Nat. Hospital Abuja (@NatHospital_ABJ)

Earlier today, a hospital in Nigeria live-tweeted the successful open heart surgery of an eight-year-old girl in Abuja. According to the BBC's Nasidi Adamu Yahya, the National Hospital, Abuja, is the first in Nigeria to live-tweet an operation. The hospital's spokesman, Dr Tayo Haastrup, tells the BBC the live-tweeting was done to show Nigeria's expertise to the world. (For more on why some others hospitals have chosen to live tweet one of their most complex procedures, read Matt Goodman's article for D Healthcare Daily).

RELATED

Haastrup also told the BBC that there were no ethical concerns since the patient had not been identified.

The procedure performed was a median sternotomy to repair a hole in the heart of the girl. According to the hospital, the patient was born with the ailment.

Read @NatHospital_ABJ's full play-by-play in the series of thirteen tweets below.

west africa news latest home

MORE LIKE THIS