Governor Kivutha Kibwana's-led Makueni County on Thursday edged his name further in history as the New Makindu Hospital Trauma Centre became the first public hospital to conduct a total knee replacement surgery.
The operating team, led by doctor James Muoki, conducted the life-altering three-hour surgery to a patient who was suffering severe arthritis.
An operation that entails removing the arthritic articulating surfaces of the Distal Femur and Proximal Tibia and replacing them with a knee prosthesis.
Simply put as a surgical procedure to resurface a knee damaged by arthritis. Metallic and plastic parts are used to cap the ends of the bones that form the knee joint, along with the kneecap.
On Twitter, the governor was excited noting that the surgery would be a relief to the local residents who were suffering due to the cost of the procedure.
“Patients with severe knee joint arthritis unresponsive to medical treatment will immensely benefit from this surgical procedure/intervention by our able Orthopaedic Surgeon based at the Trauma Centre,” the governor tweeted.
The news came in barely two days after Makueni received awards in the inaugural Quality Healthcare Kenyan Awards Gala after being voted as the best county in healthcare management.
The governor further noted that he would stop at nothing in ensuring his electorate receive the best medical care that the county and country have to offer.
Kibwana has also taken the health care system in his county a notch higher, through the invention of a bio-metric health card that will help residents access health services easily.
This comes a few days after Meru Level Five hospital performed another groundbreaking surgery by a public hospital in the country, commonly referred to as minimal access surgery, Laparoscopy or Keyhole surgery.
The surgery is one of a kind in the country as it enables a surgeon to make a small cut on a patients abdomen inserting a camera that they use to view the internal organs to only deal with the specific infected area.
