The Gweru Provincial Hospital achieved a major feat when they performed a total hip replacement surgery, a first of its kind performed at the Provincial Hospital level.
Gweru is the only Provincial Hospital among the eight Provincial Hospitals to perform the total hip replacement for the first time.
The surgery, under the logistic support from Medical Superintendent Dr. Fabian Mashingaidze, was performed by Mr. Brian Paketh, an orthopaedic surgeon and his team.
Mr. Brian Paketh who heads the surgery team said, “We have a lot of patients with arthritis and it is fit to do it a Provincial Hospital so that we don’t refer patients to Central
Hospitals”.
“The initial operation was a success, the patient didn’t have any complications meanwhile the patient is mobilizing and recovering well,” he said.
The first patient was an eighty-two old female patient.
“So far the results are promising and this year alone we are scheduling to do twelve more procedures. We can’t do them all at once because of the necessity of extensive preparations including patient management. More so the resources required for the operation need thoroughness.” said Mr. Paketh.
According to Mr. Paketh, the usual reason for hip replacement is that the bones will be grinding each other, a condition called osteoarthritis.
