BOSTON SURGEONS EMBARK ON FREE CARDIAC SURGERIES …At Komfo Anokye Hospital

From Sebastian R. Freiku, Kumasi

 

A 32-MEMBER team of cardiac surgeons from Boston’s Children’s Hospital of the Harvard University has arrived at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital to undertake their seventh mission to offer free cardiac surgeries.

About 20 children in the range of one month old  to 6 years are expected to benefit from the nine-day exercise, coming under a Boston Hospital-Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) collaboration, under which  the team would visit KATH every year to perform heart surgeries on screened patients, mostly children.

The Boston team would spend about US$67.00 for the treatment on each of the 20 patients free of charge besides donating millions of dollars worth of equipment for the local team of surgeons to take up the challenge and manage cardiac problems at the local level.

The team led by Dr. Francis Fynn Thompson would screen about 100 patients with congenital heart diseases.

He disclosed that the Boston-KATH collaboration has since 2007 screened about 350 patients, 77 out of which have successfully undergone cardiac surgeries while a dozen cardiac patients have received special treatment outside the country on the recommendation of the Boston team.

Dr. Fynn Thompson disclosed that following the success story of the Boston team at KATH, other medical teams have expressed interest in embarking on similar missions at KATH.

The focus of the team, according to Dr. Fynn Thompson, is to work and achieve a self sustaining Paediatric Heart Centre at KATH.

The CEO of KATH, Prof. Ohene Adjei said the hospital’s long term plan is to set up its own cardiac centre for which some local surgeons are being trained in South Africa to man the proposed Cardiac Centre.

He hoped the establishment of a Cardiothoracic Centre at the Hospital would help ease congestion on the facility in Accra.

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