By Chidi Nkwopara

OWERRI — National Orthopedic Hospital, Enugu, has recorded 53 successful joint replacement surgeries and is aiming at 100 patients mark in 2011.

Head, Accident and Emergency Unit and Coordinator of Arthroplasty Unit of the hospital, Dr. Uchenna Katchy, disclosed this in an exclusive interview with Vanguard.

“We have started the joint replacement programme in National Orthopedic Hospital, Enugu. So far, we have had 53 successful surgeries without any complication and we are aiming that by 2011, we will be hitting the 100 patients mark,” Dr. Katchy said.

According to Katchy, people are already doing modern things in spinal surgery and trauma, and  Nigeria will be self-sufficient in orthopedic practice in 2015 or 2020 if the current tempo was maintained.

Answering a question on the place traditional bone setters in the 21st Century, Dr. Katchy urged people to embrace modern medicine, arguing that it was dangerous for those who do not know the intricacies of this area of medicine to blindly dabble into it.