100 people undergo free hernia surgery at Ho Teaching Hospital
A total of 100 people with hernia have successfully undergone a free surgical operation to remove the abnormal body growth at the Ho Teaching Hospital in the Volta regional capital.
Hernia is an abnormal protrusion from one anatomic space to another with the protruded parts generally contained in a saclike.
The week-long surgical operation was organised by the Ho Teaching Hospital in collaboration with Operation Hernia International, a United Kingdom based surgical consultants.
The Head of Surgical sub-budget Management Committee of the hospital, Dr Nelson Affram, briefing the ‘Ghanaian Times’ at the hospital, described the operation as highly successful, with the team operating on varied types of hernia for women and children, and particularly men.
Dr Affram explained that some hospitals in the country now used technologies in the form of equipment to do hernia surgeries that provided comfortable condition to both patient and the doctor.
The two Belgian Surgical Consultants were Dr Kasper Konstantinos and Dr Veronique De Moor, both members of the UK based Operation Hernia International.
Dr Affram added that he was happy that the decade-long collaboration of the two medical organisations that broke off two years ago as a result of COVID-19 outbreak in 2019 had been renewed.
According to him, though the group was not around during the two-year break, they continued to extend its support to the hospital towards operation on patients.
He explained the three types of hernia as ‘inguinal hernia, common to the male gender due to their hard labour and intensive work, “Incisional hernia,” related to female gender, and Epigastric hernia is found in younger people.
Dr Affram attributed the male hernia in the aged to urinary restraints, adding that such operations were risky and could cause death if care is not taken.
He estimated the cost of one operation at GH¢5,000, which was done free and some aspects also borne by the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
He expressed gratitude of the management of Ho Teaching Hospital to the team for selfless and dedicated support for their one week stay in the hospital.
Dr Konstantinos, on his part, expressed optimism that their organisation would continue to support the hospital to bring relief to people from deprived communities who could not afford the cost of the surgery.
FROM KAFUI GATI, HO