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A Team of 20 Dutch urologist with the support of their five Ghanaian counterparts and five nurses have successfully carried out surgical operations on 54 neurological patients, some with rare cases, at the Koforidua Central Hospital.

Some of the cases involved children born without anus as a result of which faeces passed through the vagina. Infants born without complete bladders and abdominal walls had the situation corrected.

Others who could not also urinate due to problems with the urethral valve had them repaired which enabled them to normally pass urine. There was this very rare case of a two-week-old child who had one of the testis inside the penis instead of the scrotum. This case could, however, not be immediately fully operated on because the patient was too young.

The urologists, therefore, had to do what was expected for the child to stay alive for two months before the deformity could be corrected. This particular case, according to one of the Ghanaian urologists, was the first of its kind to be recorded in the country and could easily be corrected.

Some of the commonest cases were acute urinary retention and testicular swellings. The seven-day outreach programme, which ended at the weekend, was jointly organised by the Koforidua Central Hospital and Ananse Foundation, a Dutch non-governmental organisation, with sponsorship from Astellas Pharmaceuticals, also based in The Netherlands.

Winding up the activities of the outreach programme, Dr Frank Yirenkyi, the only resident urologist at the hospital, said while some of the surgical operations were done within short periods, others lasted for as long as five hours and that all were successful.

He said the urologists were divided into three groups and put in the out patients department, ward and the operational theatre “to do the jobs which were perfectly done”.

He said in all 256 cases were handled out of which 54 had to go under the knife of the surgeon, and that the exercise had been very successful and a big relief for both patients and the hospital.

That, Dr Yirenkyi said, was because of the large number of cases handled within the week, adding that only five urological cases normally went to the operational theatre a week at the hospital.

He named some of the challenges as lack of space in the wards for urological cases and simple equipment for the handling of such cases. The Medical Director of the hospital, Dr Daniel Asare, who was full of praise for the Dutch team, expressed the hope that such an exercise would in future last for at least a fortnight to make it possible for more urological cases to be treated.

Dr Asare, who also expressed his appreciation to the Ananse Foundation and Astellas Pharmaceuticals for their support called on all stakeholders in the health sector to help equip the hospital with the basic urological equipment. The hospital doubles as a regional health facility.

Dr Asare who was so much elated about the success of the programme, said some of the rare cases handled could be published in international medical journals.

Both Dr Hans De-Wall and Mr Stefan Bevers, representatives respectively of the Ananse Foundation and Astellas Pharmaceuticals, were happy about their involvement in the exercise and longed for the day when they would once again set foot in Ghana for another outreach programme.

Source: Daily Graphic

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