The management of Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), the second largest hospital in Ghana last Tuesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Korean Foundation for International Healthcare (KOFIH) towards the establishment of a Laparoscopy Centre at the hospital.
Dr. Oheneba Owusu-Danso, Chief Executive of KATH signed on behalf of the hospital while Ms. Hyejin Jung, Country Director for KOFIH signed for her orgnaisation at a short ceremony in Kumasi.
Under the agreement, the Korean Foundation will assist KATH financially to procure specialized equipment and instruments and fund the training of surgeons, nurses and allied staff in South Korea for the proposed Specialized Laparoscopy Centre expected to be operational by the third quarter of the 2021.
The US$1 million Laparoscopy centre is expected to facilitate the provision of a pinhole or minimally invasive surgical services to help improve surgical outcomes in the northern half of Ghana.
The proposed Laparoscopy Centre comes from the realization that about a thousand surgeries are performed in the department of surgery per year and that none of these surgeries were done laparoscopically even though 78% of patients are willing to undergo laparoscopy surgery rather than the open surgery.
The decision to site the second Laparoscopy Centre at KATH emanates from the fact that the facility is located in the middle belt of Ghana which makes it a medical hub for referrals.
The KATH Chief Executive conveyed the appreciation to the foundation for its assistance in the establishment of the centre which he said was going to change the face of surgical services at the hospital.
He said the services of surgical disciplines and directorates such as obstetrics and gynaecology, surgery, trauma and orthopaedics and hand surgery were set to witness a dramatic change in the outcome of their procedures with the coming into existence of the centre “because patients undergoing surgeries will not have to be cut open, surgeries will be a lot safer and less painful, recoveries will be faster and hospital stay shorter” he explained.
He said a surgeon from the hospital, Dr. Dominic Darkwah, was already in South Korea for further training in preparation for the take-off of the centre.
Dr. Owusu-Danso also touched on the need for a sustainability plan for the centre so that it could continue to be in full operation long after the support from the Foundation has ended.
Ms. Hyejin Jung said the centre will be the second to be established by her Foundation after the first one at the Ridge Hospital in Accra.
She said the project which will be executed over a two year period is meant to make KATH a major hub for the training of doctors in laparoscopy surgeries in the country.
The KOFIH Country Director said additional doctors and nurses from the hospital will be sent to South Korea for more training to ensure that the centre was adequately staffed to the specialist services and training expected from it.
The post KATH signs MoU with Korean Foundation appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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