SICOT e-Newsletter

I was pleased to receive an invitation to lecture at the Nigerian Orthopaedic Association meeting in Ile-Ife in November 2012. The trip to Nigeria started several weeks before with the immunization injections for meningitis, cholera and yellow fever. The yellow fever vaccine must be taken ten days before you go. In addition to the weekly tablet for malarial prophylaxis which starts two weeks before and continues four weeks after.

After a six-hour direct flight from Cairo to Lagos, I was picked up by my friend and ex-Assiut fellow Dr Orimolade. We took a bus to Ile-Ife, which is about 240 km away, but the trip took around four hours. Besides the bumps and hurdles that forces a driving pattern reminding you of the Mario driving game, there were accidents on the road side every 10 minutes to remind you of the excitement that you might face...


We arrived at night time to the campus of Obafemi Awolowo University. Their definition of a campus is different from what we are used to, in which this is a small town, with large distances in between colleges and other facilities, where you may drive five to ten minutes to reach another site. It’s a huge place! One interesting thing were the thousands of bats flying back to their trees after sunset. We were hosted in the VIP University accommodation with two other international guests from India, Dr Umesh Nagare and Dr Rajesh Parasnis. The generators supplied back-up power for the constantly interrupted power supply, which seems to be the norm.

The following two days included pre-congress activities such as workshops and instructional courses. On the first day, Umesh and myself covered the Arthroplasty side, while Dr Parasnis lectured about Spine. Umesh gave three to four talks about TKR, while I presented an instructional course on HTO, which included a hands-on workshop with locked plates. The following day, Dr Nagare gave interesting talks about THR, while I presented a course on Basic Knee Arthroscopy, which ended with a hands-on workshop. We were impressed by the eagerness and passion of the participants to learn, despite the power shortages which turned the glass conference halls into a steamy sauna. It was refreshing to eat their cold delicious fruits on returning to the accommodation. We had a welcome reception on the Wednesday evening, where I was pleased to meet Dr Wahab Yinusa and all my Assiut fellows and friends. In total 17 Nigerian fellows have passed through the Assiut/SICOT fellowship programme since 2002.

The meeting attendance was moderate in which I expect around 200 participants were present from the 450 national orthopaedic surgeons. However, it is an annual social and political event for the NOA members.

On Thursday morning, Dr Parasnis gave a talk about Spine Tumours, while Dr Nagare presented on the THR posterior approach. My talk was about TKR in severe varus deformities. At the opening ceremony, after a traditional musical dance, I was asked to deliver a talk about SICOT and its activities, in which I highlighted the contributions of SICOT to the educational process in Africa and the world, and the recent approval of the Education Centre in Lagos. So, after presenting ten talks and two workshops in 2.5 days, we then left for Lagos on another exciting road trip.

On Friday I was escorted by Dr Mustafa Alimi to visit the National Orthopaedic Hospital in Lagos, one of the oldest specialized orthopaedic hospitals in the region. With 250 beds, 15 consultants, and around 50 trainees, the hospital receives around 8,000 patients per year, and performs around 1,000 operations per year. I had a chance to view the location of the new Education Centre with the preparations for the official opening in the near future.

I would like to thank Dr Orimolade, the organizing committee, the NOA, and all my friends who hosted me during this wonderful trip.