PESHAWAR: The Mardan Medical Complex (MMC) has become the fourth public sector hospital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where brain tumor surgery procedures have been launched at its Neurosurgery Department.
The first brain tumor surgery was done on Tuesday, which was the first major surgery in the Neurosurgery Department that was established in 2009, but lacked trained neurosurgeons in the past. It was in January this year when the Board of Governors (BoG) hired trained neurosurgeons. Among the three trained neurosurgeons was Assistant Professor Dr Naeemul Haq.
After joining the MMC, Dr Naeemul Haq and his three-member team launched the first specialist neurosurgery services for the patients. The MMC is catering to the needs of patients from Mardan and its catchment areas such as Swabi, Buner, Bajaur and the Malakand region. Brain tumor surgery is stated to be the most difficult and sensitive surgical procedure.
According to senior neurosurgeons, the facility was until now available only at the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) and Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) in Peshawar and Ayub Teaching Hospital (ATH) in Abbottabad.
Dr Naeemul Haq and his team have conducted 200 neurosurgery procedures in one year. Professor Dr Mumtaz Ali Khan, head of the Neurosurgery and Trauma Department of the LRH, is stated to have played a key role in developing and equipping the Neurosurgery Department in MMC.
When contacted, Dr Naeemul Haq confirmed to have done the first brain tumor surgery at the MMC.
He said the patient had been bed-ridden for quite a long time and had developed brain tumor of stage four. He said the surgery went very well and the patient had been shifted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
Dr Naeemul Haq said his next target was conducting another advanced surgery at the MMC and that would be neurovascular surgery. He said Prof Dr Mumtaz Ali had committed to assist them.
“I am so happy today for doing this procedure at the MMC with my colleagues. At least patients would no longer need to travel to Peshawar for the neurosurgery procedures as these are now available with us,” he said.