Korle Bu, the sky is the limit

Each year, medical researchers make significant discoveries to advance technology a little more and offer hope to those suffering from grave illnesses and debilitating conditions.

Last year alone, more than 10 new medical technology advancements were made that cut across the field, including the growing of cells from patients in the laboratory and reinserting them into organs that needed correction.

One of such discoveries helped to correct cystic fibrosis, a hereditary disorder affecting a particular gland in humans.

The lab-grown cells for treatment have also helped patients with skin cancer and stubborn rashes. A South African boy born with the HIV virus is known to have lived for eight years without having AIDS, while HIV in mice has been eliminated through gene editing. These are all medical breakthroughs that are shaping the world by the day.

At the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra, a medical team has successfully performed a liver surgery on a 67-year-old woman. Dr Asare K. Offei, one of two Ghanaian hepatobiliary (liver) surgeons led a team of doctors, anaesthetists, nurses and other professionals to perform the surgery.

According to the lead surgeon, the success meant that many people suffering from similar conditions would not have to travel abroad and spend huge sums of money to have some peace of mind from liver diseases.

The Daily Graphic commends Dr Offei and the team for the yeoman’s job and urge them not to rest on their laurels but strive for greater successes in their chosen field of practice. As a developing country, it is imperative that we work hard to catch up with the rest of the world and also register our relevance in the scheme of things.

To do this effectively, our manpower has to be of high quality; it has to be daring, self-believing and motivated. This is exactly what Dr Ofei and his team have exhibited. Ghanaians in all fields of endeavour must strive to be the best in their corners and have the interest of others and the nation at the heart in whatever they do.

It is unbecoming to hear stories that some Ghanaians go out of the country to learn trades, acquire skills and professions only for them to remain in the countries where they acquired them to practise.

Many a time, the reason given for this is the stifling or suppressive environment and system that Ghana offers. There is a certain kind of red-tapeism and bureaucracy that make it difficult for our ‘returnee professionals’ to fit into the system. Some of these impediments are deliberately put there by some of those already in the system.

The Daily Graphic learnt that Dr Offei and his team had been performing hepatobiliary surgeries for more than a year before it was formalised at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.

We encourage all Ghanaians, the regulatory and academic institutions and professional bodies to take a second look at how they treat our compatriots who return home with professional skills, with emphasis on how they can help the returnees to seamlessly fit into the system and contribute their quota to development.

It should be observed that with just one or a few of such skills around, they can help impart the expertise in others to make them stay. The establishment of the Cardiothoracic Centre at Korle Bu is a clear case in point, where the founder and pioneer surgeon of the centre, Prof. Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, has inspired the training of heart surgeons in the country.

We congratulate Dr Offei, his team and the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital on the heartwarming breakthrough.
Kudos!!!