A professor of Paediatric Surgery at the University of Lagos, Adesoji Ademuyiwa, has called for free surgeries for neonates.

A neonate is a child under 28 days old. The first 28 days of a child’s life is called the neonatal period; a time of rapid change.

Mr Ademuyiwa made the call for free surgery for this category of children during his inaugural lecture on Wednesday at the University of Lagos.

Mr Ademuyiwa recalled that one of the advocacies surgeons had made, over time, was that surgery fees for children should be waived.

He explained that there should not be any financial cost for the children because they did not come to the world by themselves, and it was not their fault that they had health challenges.

According to him, children have been neglected in access to surgery.

Mr Ademuyiwa said that studies showed that it was possible to perform primary surgery in neonates for free and for adults.

He said the one for adults was unpopular, but surgeons had shown it was possible.

The paediatrician reiterated that surgery should be free for newborns and that the government should pay for it “because children were the future.”

He added that the condition of service for medical practitioners needed to be improved to retain young specialists leaving the country.

According to him, all his recommendations are doable because the cost involved is small compared to some of the budgets being announced by the government daily, as well as other things.

(NAN)