Sibu Hospital pioneers inaugural spine procedure in Sarawak

SIBU (Jan 19): The Sibu Hospital made history on Jan 13 when it successfully performed the state’s first Unilateral Biportal Endoscopic (UBE) spine surgery, marking a milestone for Sarawak neurosurgery.

The procedure was also the first UBE spine surgery carried out by a Ministry of Health (MoH) neurosurgeon in Sarawak, and is believed to be the first such operation conducted in a district hospital in Malaysia.

Notably, the surgery was performed without any additional cost to the patient, demonstrating a commitment to equitable access to modern, minimally invasive care.

“This was not just a new procedure.

“It was a statement: that geography, status, and limited resources should never decide who deserves modern, minimally invasive care,” Dr Nelson Yap, who led the surgery, said in a Facebook post.

While UBE procedures have been performed in tertiary hospitals in West Malaysia, these often involve additional financial charges.

Dr Yap, who trained at Wooridul Spine Hospital, Seoul, faced significant financial and logistical challenges in introducing the procedure to Sibu, including the high cost of equipment, with uniportal endoscopic spine alone costing RM20,000 to 30,000 per case.

Over two years, he carefully acquired the necessary biportal equipment through official MoH channels.

The inaugural patient was a 70-year-old women suffering from severe low back pain for over six months, diagnosed with L4/5 spinal canal stenosis.

After counselling and preoperative assessment, the surgery was performed smoothly and completed earlier than anticipated, in contrast to similar cases elsewhere which could take up to 10 hours or being converted to open surgery.

Dr Yap praised the teamwork of the anaesthetic team and operating theatre nurses, noting that in resource-limited settings, collaboration often becomes the hospital’s greatest technology.

He also expressed appreciation to Riff Raff for their support, which helped bring world-class to Sibu.

With the availability of UBE spine services in Sibu, Sibu Hospital is now set to advance minimally invasive spine vare in Central Sarawak, improving patient outcomes while minimalizing surgical impact.

Dr Yap also invited donors willing to support the introduction of uniportal endoscopic spine surgery to further benefit Sarawakians.