Recently, the social media was agog with the news that Dr. Ogadinma Mgbajah, a Lagos State University Teaching Hospital doctor, has emerged West Africa’s first female open-heart surgeon. She spoke to Kunle Falayi about this feat, growing up and what spurred her on.
Excerpts:
You have become a celebrity on social media now. How does it feel to be referred to as the first female cardiothoracic surgeon in Africa?
It is still all very surreal. I did not really start out to become the first female cardiothoracic surgeon in West Africa. When I got into the training, I had no clue that there had not been a female in the field before me in West Africa. All I wanted was just a platform to help people who have heart problems. The fanfare is good but it takes some getting used to. I have received messages and calls from people I have never met. They have suddenly turned me into a legend and role model. But I am very happy. I finally have a platform I have always wanted. It is cardiothoracic. The ‘cardio’ part is the heart while the ‘thoracic part is every other thing like the lungs.
Is the challenge of open-heart surgery in the country because the training is very tough, or because it is very expensive?
Basically, the challenge with this specialty is because it is very precise. To provide cardiothoracic care is very costly. I am hoping we will get a lot of government support and health insurance to be able to help a lot of people who have this problem. Nigeria has very few cardiothoracic surgeons because after the training, people ask themselves if they would actually be able to practise because most of the patients you see don’t have the finance to support themselves. A lot of patients are not even aware because a lot of cardiac problems are seen as spiritual attack. A lot of people have taken it as a death sentence when they walk into a hospital and they are told their hearts have failed. But there are so much that can be done to give such people a good quality of life.
If there are few specialists in this field, and it is relatively new like you said, the training must be very tough.
Oh yes, it is a very tough training, especially for me as a female. Cardiothoracic training entails a lot of intensive care work. The more training you get in the field the tougher it gets for you because you have to be the most experienced hand who is on ground all the time. I have been in this hospital for seven days straight without going home. So, it is tough but doable.
Why do you think so far, you have been the first female in the field?
I think the society has a way of conditioning women to think that there are some areas that do not belong to them. You cannot take away culture from us as Nigerians. We think that there is a limit to what a woman is supposed to do. When you speak to medical students about what they want to do, they start by saying, “Well, I’m a woman…” The fact that she is a woman clouds her judgement. She is her own biggest challenge. A woman needs to know that all you need to do is identify a problem and ask yourself if you have the capacity to solve this problem. If you don’t, can you build the capacity? If the answer is yes, then you go for it.
Who first pointed out to you that there had never been a woman in the field before you in the country?
Lecturers and examiners during the training. So many times, I got calls and people started talking about this young woman braving such a tough field. That spurred me on. I needed women to know that they could do whatever they want. It demands a lot of attention to details. If you have brought up a child on your own, you will understand the amount of attention to details that requires. You can actually channel that. But I did not let the fact that I would be the first female cardiothoracic surgeon drive me. It was not what I was going after. Yes, it is a bonus but I did not make the whole training about becoming that.
Was there any form of competition among the male trainees to ensure you did not trump them during the training?
Well, yes, it was always there, however subtle. But in my case, my trainers were all male. I need to mention these two people – Mr. Bode Falase, Dr. Michael Sanusi. These men were unusual men. Once they were sure that was what I really wanted to do, they held my hand through it. They put everything they had into making sure I could be a very well trained surgeon. You always have to work a little harder than the men and put your best foot forward. You always have something to prove. But when you get beyond that and show that you are actually committed, they were cheering me on.
So, the training took seven years?
Yes, apart from medical school, internship and housemanship. The training is in two parts. After three years of training on general surgery, you start the cardiothoracic training. I had all my three children within this period. I set a pace for myself, I was not running against anybody. I wanted to get the skill and become a surgeon that can actually operate. I did not say, oh, I must finish in a record time. The training took place partly in India, Ghana and occasionally, we had inputs from European trainers. When I went to India and took all my children along, people started talking about this female surgeon who had arrived with her kids. It was like saying, ‘is she sure she really wants to train?’ But I was determined. In all, Lagos State Government has been amazingly supportive. They identify excellence and back you up. I thank the Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, who continued the massive support even though we started before he came. Then the Chief Medical Director of LASUTH, Prof. Wale Oke, he calls me his wizkid. He gave me all the support and that made it a little easier to cope with.
There is this saying that holding a beating human heart in your hand comes with this exhilarating feeling. Did that happen to you?
Yes, I have done it a couple of times and I have opened chests on a regular basis and I have seen the heart beating many times. It is pretty exciting. I have cut open the heart on a number of cases and I have done quite a few work on the heart. It is an amazing thing to know that you could literally shut off someone’s heart, work on it and bring it back. It is an amazing feeling. More than that, it is a rewarding experience. There is this rush when you see the heart beating in your face. So, it is a huge responsibility when you have to work on a heart and leave it beating. The most challenging of them is when you have to operate on children. I have had to remove one of the lungs of a one-month old baby.
How long have you been married?
I have been married for eight years. So, you can imagine that seven out of those eight years, I was undergoing cardiothoracic training. My husband sometimes would come to pick me in the hospital and he sits outside in his car up to eight hours. He is so amazing that he should get an award. So, one needs that kind of family support. I have three boys. I am not sure they fully understand yet but they always say their mom is a heart surgeon.
Tell me more about your background.
I was born into a family of five. I lost my dad in senior secondary school year one. My mum is an amazing and strong woman. She made up her mind that her children must be all they want to be, so she gave us her all. Growing up in Owerri was an amazing time. My dad was a disciplinarian and an academician. He believed in excellent education. I went to top schools and would have 10 textbooks for one subject but I could have only one pair of shoes. He believed that if you had a great education, you could buy all the shoes you wanted. After school, we went to the farm because he wanted us to have a balanced life. I also schooled in Federal Government Girls College, Calabar and after that I came to the South West to attend University of Ibadan and graduated from UCH in 2005.
So you were partly a geek and a farm girl?
Yes, I was pretty much everything. We tried our hands in everything.
That background must have shaped your career choice. Did your parents have a direct input in choosing the medical field?
Not at all. My father always asked what we wanted to be when we grew up, I was told, I always said I wanted to be a doctor and I have never changed from the choice. But their support was amazing.
You said you sometimes spent seven days straight in the hospital, how does a cardiothoracic surgeon relax then?
We create fun with the work because it can be really stressful. You don’t open a heart every day, you don’t take a lung every day, but you have to give them critical care every day. We have a life but we create fun within the work. Whatever time we have, we try to spend with the family.
So, there wasn’t any time you felt you could just go away and relax on a sunny beach?
Oh yeah! I like to dance, do talk shows, speak to people. In fact, some people thought I would have ended up on the stage. There are times you felt you could just walk away from this whole thing and be free but somehow, we find our way back to focus.
Where is that relaxing escape you go to when you are very busy?
Music. It is huge for me. When I operate, there is a studio in my head.
Do you actually physically play the music in the theatre because some surgeons do that?
Yeah, I sometimes play music in the theatre but in my mind, music is always going on because you get some cases that are really challenging that you cannot find in any textbook. The people are looking up to you and need you to save them, the music helps me.
How do you feel when a patient comes and sees you as the saviour?
It is terrifying. But I try to compartmentalise in my head. I listen to what the problem is, which the medical profession has answers to. I take what they are presenting, which to me is a medical problem and channel all the emotion and trust into making me a better person to work in a safe environment. I talk to the patients and give them the facts and we work with that. Then I direct all the emotions to God because He is my source.
Am I right to say you were never afraid of blood at any point in your life?
Oh, I am actually afraid of blood, which is why I drifted towards this specialty because we try to keep the blood in the heart or the vessel. We have so much respect for the blood.
But when you open up the thoracic region, don’t you see a lot of blood?
If you see a cardiothoracic surgeon working, we are different from most other surgeons because we have great respect for blood. We try as much as possible to keep the blood in the vessels flowing through the heart because it is very priceless. So, I am afraid of blood but not in the kind of way to run away.
If you did not end up as a surgeon, what career choice would you have chosen?
I would be surgeon three times over then, I might probably be a life coach with a television show because I like to talk to people.
Are you romantic because some say doctors who work with the heart can be quite romantic?
I am haplessly and completely in love with my husband. But the talk about heart doctors being romantic is just a myth. Literally speaking, we have a lot of respect for the heart because we understand how it works. We try not to break the heart because we know it is a tough job fixing it.
With all these activities around you, do you have time to read for leisure?
Yes, I read a lot. My favourite book right now is Audacity of Hope by Barrack Obama. Thank God for e-books. You can read along the way. Of course, I don’t read as much as before. – Culled from Punch.
