History has been made in Anambra, where the first heart surgery in the South-East Nigerian state was successfully carried out over the weekend at St. Joseph Specialist Hospital, Adazi Nnukwu.

A series of heart surgeries is currently on-going at the hospital by a team of 15 doctors and medical workers led by the renowned Anambra-born Cardiac Surgeon, Dr. Joseph Nwiloh, who is based in the USA and is regarded as one of the best in the world. The building housing the Heart Clinic was named after Dr. Nwiloh by immediate past Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi, who built it as a way of celebrating worthy Anambra sons and daughters and hold them out as role models for the young.

Dr. Nwiloh, who helped in equipping the centre, thanked God for His mercies and Peter Obi for his vision. He promised to work harder to ensure that the centre becomes fully functional.

Ex-Governor Peter Obi, who was visiting the state and was requested by Dr. Nwiloh to witness the first surgery on Saturday, said he was happy at the many fruits of the collaboration between the Church and the Government. He said he was even happier that his successor, Chief Willie Obiano, has continued with the collaboration, saying that the ultimate beneficiaries are the people of the state.

Commenting, the President General of Adazi Nnukwu, Mr. Ben Enemuo, said the people of the town were happy over the development. He thanked God for the gift of Peter Obi who initiated the Heart Centre and commended his successor for the promise to build on Obi’s foundation.

The former Anambra State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Lawrence Ikeakor, who visited the hospital to witness to surgery, said that with the development, Nigerians may not have the need to travel outside the country again for categories of heart diseases requiring surgery.

•Photo shows former Gov. of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi ( in black), with the Anambra-born USA Cardiologist, Dr. Joseph Nwiloh (on his left), who on Saturday led other doctors from the USA and Nigeria to perform the first heart surgery in Anambra State at St. Joseph Hospital, Adazi- Nnukwu, which Obi built when he was the governor.