KATH reviews impact of laparoscopic services

By Yussif Ibrahim, GNA 

Kumasi, Jan. 20, GNA – The Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi has held a review workshop to assess its performance after one year of performing laparoscopic surgery at the facility. 

This follows the establishment of a state-of-the-art Laparoscopic Surgery Training Centre at its main theatre with support from the Korea Foundation for International Healthcare (KOFIH). 

      Laparoscopic surgery is performed with the aid of a laparoscope – a thin rod with a camera attached to visualise the abdominal and pelvic cavities through keyhole incisions.   

     The procedure, according to medical experts, is associated with faster recovery and better patient outcomes. 

       The Centre, which was put together at a cost of US$ 234, 231 seeks to improve surgical services at the facility and also serve as training centre in laparoscopic surgeries for certain health workers in the Northern part of Ghana. 

      It is the second of its kind to be established in the country by KOFIH after the one at the Greater Accra Regional Hospital. 

     A total of 18 patients have so far undergone the procedure without complications since its establishment, according managers of the Centre. 

     Professor Otchere Addai-Mensah, Chief Executive Officer of the KATH, in a speech read for him, applauded KOFIH for supporting KATH to train a cadre of professionals with the right skills to enhance the provision of services in the hospital and beyond. 

      He said the workshop sought to review operations of the Centre and also devise strategies to address outstanding challenges. 

     “I am happy to announce that we have made significant gains over the past one year after the inauguration of the Centre,” he said. 

        He said apart from the Lead Surgeon at the centre, Dr. Dominic Darkwa, six additional staff including doctors, nurses and biomedical scientists had benefitted from internship training programme in the Republic of South Korea. 

He was optimistic that the project was going to be a game changer in the surgical directorate of the hospital. 

      Mr Jinho Kang, Country Director, KOFIH said the continued support from his outfit would improve the practice of laparoscopic surgery at KATH. 

      He said the capacity of about 32 surgeons, nurses and midwives at KATH had been built in basic laparoscopy surgery with five of  the same cadre of professionals at the Tamale Teaching Hospital also benefiting from the training. 

      He commended KATH and the Ministry of Health for their cooperation and urged them to put the Centre to good use and arrange for proper maintenance plan for the sustainability of laparoscopic surgery services at the facility. 

      Dr. Kwadwo Sarbeng, the Medical Director of KATH, said one major challenge confronting the Centre was low public awareness and stressed the need to step up awareness creation for the benefit of the general public. 

      He thanked the government of Korea for the support which he said had enhanced service delivery at the surgical directorate of the hospital.     

GNA