As part of its free medical outreach at the Methodist Rafiki Satellite Village, near Winneba in the Central Region of Ghana, from 16th to 20th December, free surgeries were done at the Trauma and Specialist Hospital – Winneba. The KADEM Team was to pay for the overall cost of these surgeries, making it free for the patients.
Screening for the surgical cases were done on Monday, 16th December 2024 taking advantage of my routine general surgery and plastic surgery clinic on Mondays. Prior announcement was made through various media to have people report with their various surgical conditions for screening and selection for the free surgical outreach by KADEM.
Patients who reported on that Monday were assessed based on their clinical presentation and those with conditions within the hospital capability were selected for the free surgeries. In all 16 patients were selected and they proceeded to do the necessary laboratory tests and anaesthesia assessment to make sure they were all fit for the intended surgeries.
Due to a few challenges with theater logistics, the surgeries had to start on Wednesday, 18th December, 2024 instead of the initially intended Tuesday, 17th December,2024.
In all surgeries were done successfully for a total of 14 patients within the 3 days ie 18th December, 2024 to 20th December, 2024. Two of the screened patients did not show up for their surgeries. These surgeries were done by 3 doctors with the help of the anaesthesia team and the theatre nurses of the Trauma and Specialist Hospital.
A summary of the surgeries done based on some specific criteria are highlighted below;
Clinical Diagnosis Hernia – 6
Superficial skin lesions – 3
Post burn ulcers – 2
Finger contractures – 1
Goitre – 1
Hydrocoele – 1
Type of anaesthesia General – 5
Spinal – 6
Local – 3
No adverse events or serious complications were observed during and after the surgeries. However, I must state that some patients may need long term follow up and other post operative care based on the nature of their medical condition and the specific surgery done for them.
Overall cost of the surgeries and the theatre logistics used for the surgical outreach are being worked up by the theatre nurses and the IT personnel of the hospital. This should be ready in the next few days.
On behalf of all the patients who benefitted from the free surgeries and their relatives, I say a big thank you to the KADEM Team for the great support in helping them get the treatment they needed. Also, on behalf of the management and staff of Trauma and Specialist Hospital, we say thank you for the collaboration in making this surgical outreach a success. It’s our prayer that more of such collaborations would continue between KADEM and TSH.
To God be the Glory, great things He has done and surely greater things He would do.
Report by:
DR. NATHANIEL TETTEH
PLASTIC SURGEON, TRAUMA AND SPECIALIST HOSPITAL
(27TH December, 2024)
