I hate to see people suffer- MTN Hero
In the waiting area of the Surgery Out-Patiens Department (OPD) at the 37 Military Hospital, several people needing attention in plastic surgery or carrying burns related problems sit anxiously on clinic days, holding on to see the doctor in Consulting Room 5.
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They know that after consulting with the soft-spoken Dr. Kwame Abrokwaa-Yankyera, Head of the Plastic Surgery and Burns Unit of the hospital, they would be a step nearer to getting their problems resolved at some kind of reasonable fee.
Many impoverished people with similar problems in the rural areas, however, don’t have access to Dr. Abrokwaa-Yankyera or any nine of the other plastic surgeons stationed in three major hospitals in Accra and Kumasi.
That is why Dr Abrokwaa-Yankyera got the Graft Foundation going in 2009.
He, in collaboration with a few other good-hearted medical colleagues and patriotic citizens, reach out through the Graft Foundation, to needy but poor people across the country who need plastic surgery and operate on them free of charge.
The slim, fairly tall doctor’s efforts to help the needy was recently appreciated by the MTN Ghana Foundation through its Heroes of Change television series.
The Graft Foundation received Ghc50,000 to help facilitate its charity work.
“I hate to see people suffer. There are conditions in the rural areas that need attention. Some of the affected people don’t even know that there is help and they attribute their conditions to spiritual forces,” says Dr Abrokwaa-Yakyeraa who has three daughters with his wife, Rebecca.
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“What we are doing at the Graft Foundation is so to give hope to people who think they are hopeless. They are people who haven’t lost their mental faculty, they are not disabled in any way but somehow do not fit into society due to some defects.”
Some of the commonest situations Dr Abrokwaa-Yankyera and his team of volunteers handle include cleft lip and palate, breast reconstruction, swellings, injuries resulting from assault, bread-making and pure water machines as well as industrial accidents.
The top prize in the MTN Heroes of Change programme was competed for by 20 personalities selected from across the country.
Dr Abrokwaa-Yankyera, who refers to himself as the Servant Surgeon, believes the contest’s four judges were swayed by the scope of the Graft Foundation’s work and the hope they bring to their beneficiaries.
The doctor hails from a town in the Ashanti Region called Nkwantakese. He had his basic education there and at Mim in the Brong Ahafo Region.
After secondary education at Dwamena Akenteng in Ofinso, Tema Secondary School and Presbyterian Boys Secondary at Legon in Accra, he was admitted to the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Medical School.
He has been with the 37 Military Hospital since July 1992 and has done further courses here and in Taiwan.
He says though he was not exposed to plastic surgery during his days in medical school, he had interest in surgery and was always interested in the scar outcome of his work.
“When I got to know that there was a field of specialisation called plastic surgery, I decided that was the direction I wanted to go.”
An invitation from a German doctor at the Bator Hospital to work with a team of volunteer plastic surgeons from Holland in 1998 helped solidify his resolve to specialise in plastic surgery.
“A man who had fallen from a moving truck was brought there with a serious injury to his leg. He survived because the plastic surgery team from Holland was on hand at that crucial time. I made up my mind there and then that plastic surgery was the way for me.”
In fact, the experience with the volunteer outreach team from Holland also influenced his decision to take plastic surgery free of charge to poor people.
“Whilst forming the Plastic Surgery Unit at the 37 Military Hospital, I had to commit personal resources as well as resources from friends before it could take off,” Dr Abrokwaa-Yankyera says.
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He is extremely grateful to the Graft Foundation team without whom it would have been impossible to offer free surgery to poor people.
He mentioned people such as Brainerd Anani, Gertrude Amoo Quaye, Claudine Fleischer, Dr Ohene Owusu Danso, Dr Hoyte Williams, Dr Kwesi Nasaful and Dr Margaret Kyei as key collaborators.
“There are others like Dr Caroline Tetteyfio Koney, Malinda Agbetsoamedo, Rita Agbemenu, Grace Pokua, Mr Raymond Guane, Frank W. Otabil and Otie Pokua Yankyera who have all contributed immensely to the work of the Graft Foundation.”
According to Dr Abrokwaa-Yankyera, the MTN Heroes of Change programme is a useful pursuit that must be maintained.
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He added that two of the Graft Foundation’s big aims include reaching out to other countries in West Africa that do not have plastic surgeons at all. They also wish to set up a 1000-bed hospital that would also be a training outfit for plastic surgeons.
“We would like to appeal to the public to call us to register children with clefts so that we can advice and support them. Financial support has been a big challenge and we would like as many as possible to come on board by making a monthly commitment of a minimum of GhC1.00.
“They may make standing orders with their banks. Details are available at www.graftfoundation.org.
Together we can make a difference,” says the doctor who worships at the Christ Temple of the International Central Gospel Church at Abossey Okai in Accra.
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