THE cost of open heart surgery, which is sometimes beyond the reach of some patients, makes it impossible for those suffering from various cardio vascular diseases in the country, to seek medical care.
As a result the relatives of these patients, most of whom are children launch various appeals in the media to raise funds from philanthropists and organisations to bear the cost of such treatment.
To help alleviate the plight of such patients, the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi has collaborated with a team of specialists from Boston Children Hospital in the United States of America, for the performance of free open heart surgery at the Accident and Emergency Centre at KATH.
The annual programme, which started three years ago, has benefited 44 Ghanaian children and others from the West African sub-Region.
This year, a team of 32 specialists from the USA, in collaboration with their counterparts at KATH has performed free open heart surgery for 14 children suffering from various cardio vascular diseases on October 16.
The team included heart specialists, physicians, nurses, pharmacists and volunteers among others, who paid for their own airfares.
All the patients, including three, who have already been discharged, are responding positively to treatment. According to the leader of the team, Dr Francis Fynn-Thompson, the others, including a 13 -year -old girl who are still on admission, are likely to be discharged soon.
The beneficiaries who reside in various parts of the country, were among many others who were screened by the medical team when they arrived in the country.
Dr Fynn-Thompson, who took newsmen round to see the conditions of some of the patients who were still in admission, said “each of the patients would have paid about $8,000 for the surgical operation”.
He said patients who were operated on since the exercise started always came for review “ and they are all doing very well”
He said the team spent about $70,000.00 on each mission, and in terms of medical equipment and suppliers, they spent a total of $ one million.
He said all equipment brought in for the surgical operations were left behind to enhance further exercises in future.
“ Our main goal is not only to perform free open heart surgery for children suffering from various heart problems, but also to build the capacity of medical officers at the KATH to enable them acquire the skills to treat such patients in future”, Dr Fynn-Thompson told newsmen.
On whether they are on course so far as their mission was concerned, Dr Fynn-Thompson noted, “ in terms of the care, we have been able to provide successful surgery for some children suffering from heart diseases for the past three years. We have some more human resource components to work on . We need to train both physicians , nurses and other medical personnel to enhance their technical skill in taking care of children with heart diseases”, adding that “the discussions are on-going and we hope to achieve results in the next couple of years”.
On their ultimate goal, Dr Thompson, who is a Ghanaian, noted “ we want to establish a cardiothoracic centre at the KATH with a particular focus on taking care of children with heart diseases”
On why they selected Ghana and Kumasi in particular, he said “we started this programme because we felt that there were a large number of children with congenial heart diseases who did not have access to the specific care compared to what we can provide in the US. We felt that we could provide that type of care , and also use the opportunity to train local Ghanaian counterparts with the requisite skills to adequately cater for such children”.
He said members of the team had collaborated effectively with their counterparts at KATH and pointed out that, “ we have identified specific people who are being trained for the past three years in specific skills. We will continue to train them, and with the support from the Chief Executive, physicians and nurses who are actively supporting us, we hope to achieve results very soon”.
The Chief Executive of KATH, Professor Ohene Adjei, commended Dr Fynn –Thompson and his team for their humanitarian gesture, saying, “ their presence is always seen as a blessing because we cannot imagine what would have happened to the children who had benefited from their gesture so far”.
We said KATH would be expecting them to continue the programme next year “ to help other children who have similar problems”.
He gave the assurance that KATH was on course of putting measures in place to establish the cardio centre to complement that of Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra to treat both children and adults suffering from various heart problems.
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