United States-based robotic surgeon and President/Chief Executive Officer of RoboMed Global, Prof Obi Davies-Ekwenna, tells BIODUN BUSARI about his passion for medical and academic careers in transplantation, urology and robotic surgery, among others
How would you describe your childhood experience?
It was a beautiful and amazing experience. I was born in the United States. I came back when I was a little boy, and I spent most of my childhood in Nigeria until I was about 15 years old. I went to primary school in Nigeria in Imo State. That was where my parents lived. Subsequently, I went back to the US to finish my education. I went to live with an uncle.
Can you take us through your academic journey as a robotic surgeon?
The whole of my academic journey after primary school was in the US. After finishing high school, I went to university for four years. I spent another four years in medical school and five years of urology training. I had another two years of abdominal transplant training. Also, there was a lot of training to become a robotic surgeon.
What inspired your choice of urology and robotic surgery as a medical doctor?
From childhood, I wanted to be a surgeon. But along the way in my profession, I was exposed to other aspects and became interested in urology. I really enjoyed the type of surgery that is done, which is the longitudinal care where you can care for little babies, adults, women and men. A little further, I developed an interest in transplantation. I’m an abdominal transplant surgeon. Later, I found an interest in robotics, as another skill set that I developed. All these interests found their way in because I’m an academic. I love to learn and teach. I love to do research, and this is an evolution. I’ve chosen lifelong learning, and it’s important to apply skills to serve my patients better.
How do you combine academics and practice?
It is the most sensible for me to do because my career allows theory and practice to work closely. I work in a teaching hospital, so I just practise what I teach. It is just a natural thing. Now, I have also ventured into business; as you can see, RoboMed is a business. This is because we wanted to make sure that things are sustainable through a social enterprise. That’s what we’re doing.
How were you involved in the tele-robotic surgery that happened in Redeemer’s Health Village in September?
The idea was mine, and I’m still elated that it happened. It was my idea to bring tele-surgery to Nigeria. One of the things I believe and also promote in my work is that excellent surgical care needs to reach every patient who needs it. I’m an academic surgeon and scientist, so it’s my desire that cutting-edge surgical care which cuts across location or geography, cost and socioeconomic background, can reach those in need of it. It was performed at the Redeemer’s Health Village in Ogun State to remove a cancerous kidney tumour of a patient who was in Abuja. I couldn’t solve the cost issues, but the one I’m sure of is technology, and it already exists. So, it made sense for us to ensure that we could bring this technology to Nigeria, and to West Africa, so that patients can have expert surgical care, regardless of where they live. That was the idea.
It could have been performed in any other teaching hospital in Nigeria; why did you choose Redeemer’s Health Village?
The idea has been part of our world, and when we found the technology and the opportunity, because it is part of what I’ve always believed, we had to come to RHV. So, because the technology is here in RHV, we had to make it to help our people. We could have deployed this at any other teaching hospital. We have it in Abuja as well. So, there should be two sites that have it. Our goal is to try to replicate it in every site that we’re in, to make sure that we expand it.
How did you feel having it as the first in West Africa?
There are a lot of times that people want to do something and they hear voices telling them it is not possible. Even when the idea to pursue your dreams is certain, the negative voices whisper or yell that they are not possible, but the determination to proceed and pursue that dream is always available. We wanted to demonstrate that it could be done. What we did was basically to show the world that this medical feat is also possible in West Africa, like the rest of the world. We’re glad it’s coming from Nigeria. I thank God because it’s really amazing to be able to demonstrate that this is possible in this country and in this region. It gave me a lot of hope that we can achieve whatever we desire to do. I wouldn’t say that it was perfect. But, we took a bold step that we can provide expert care for patients who are geographically challenged to receive it.
What are you doing to inspire younger generations?
I’m a teacher. I love to transfer knowledge to children. When I was a child, I enjoyed learning. My father was a teacher. He liked to impart knowledge. I guess I got it from my youth. I think we all want to leave the world a better place than we found it. As the leaders of tomorrow are the youth, it’s important that we inspire them. This is what I do: to educate them, mentor them, and provide for them. We trailblaze. I’m a beneficiary of people who have trailblazed for me. I think it’s important to always pull the next generation forward.
Can you briefly talk about the significance of the commissioning of the RHV-RoboMed Academy Robotics and Advanced Surgery Training Centre?
We’re interested in safe and trusted surgeries in Nigeria. So, it’s the innovation that represents that. It’s for all Nigerians. It was commissioned to train surgeons because we want safe surgeries; the experts and the technology to ensure that must be in place, and this is what the centre is about. It will be operated by RHV and RoboMed. We need safety programmes across the board. We want to be able to have robots in every contingent hospital in this country, so we want this to be part of our know-how. We’re creating a generation of trainers and specialists to support that generation. So, this is the mandate we want to deliver.
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