News / Reports & Updates / Autumn 2006

IRPS Ghana Progress Report, Autumn 2006
The IRPS Ghana Project is continuing to make excellent progress.

Over the past year long-term financial commitments from various sources have permitted the charity to draw up and guarantee teaching, training and equipment provision programmes over the next 5 years that will greatly help the RPBS Units towards independence and the development of an enduring reconstructive plastic surgery service in Ghana around 2011.

Financial commitments made
1. LTSB Foundation: £30,000
    In 2 instalments towards training an African plastic surgeon in     Scotland
2. Scottish Executive: £135,000
    In 3 instalments towards training and equipment covering the     period 2006 to 2009
3. British Association of Plastic Surgeons: £75,000
    In 3 instalments towards training covering the period 2007 to 2010
4. The Ivan Camilleri Scholarship Ball: £25,000 per annum
    The wife of a young plastic surgeon has organised an annual ball in     his memory.
5. The Lisbet Rausing Charitable Fund: £50,000
    In 5 instalments to 2008
6. Bank standing orders: £10,000 per annum

With around 60% of the charity's annual need assured teams of senior medics were encouraged to volunteer their services and to commit themselves to annual teaching, training and supervisory visits to Ghana for the next 5 years. 5 multidisciplinary teams were formed from 7 consultant plastic surgeons, 5 consultant anaesthetists and 3 physiotherapy supervisors. Each team is usually accompanied by other colleagues for one off visits. The Ghanaians find these visits of tremendous help enhancing skills and raising awareness in anaesthetics, hand surgery, cranio facial surgery and reconstructive surgery in general.

Equipment
Over the period, in excess of £150,000 worth of new equipment has been provided to the units in Ghana including a new sterilising unit, new sets of surgical instruments, electric dermatomes, new operating tables etc. Container loads of theatre, anaesthetic, ward and rehabilitation equipment and supplies are shipped annually.

Training of Ghanaian surgeons in Scotland
LTSB Foundation and The Lisbett Rausing Charity grants enabled a long term training programme to commence. Their donations encouraged others to follow suit to the extent that the IRPS is presently in the fortunate position of being able to guarantee the training of 5 new Ghanaian plastic surgeons over the next 5 years. With a present compliment of 5 consultants this number will be raised to 10 - still low - but sufficient to serve as a nucleus enabling Ghana to build up its own services independently.

We seek to train Ghanaian doctors who have a great vision for the future of reconstructive plastic surgery and burns in their country. They will be given as much experience as possible in this country to enable them to return to Ghana and implement changes and improvements necessary for Ghana to be able to treat injured and deformed patients that lack any form of help at the moment. The trainees will be given the opportunity to experience the latest treatments for burned patients. They will acquire microsurgical expertise necessary to perform vascular and nerve repairs and to carry out free tissue transfers. Hand surgery for both traumatic hand injuries (plentiful in Glasgow) and for congenital problems of the hand will be demonstrated and the Ghanaians will personally operated on such cases. During their stay each will also gain practical experience in perineal plastic surgery (a problem in developing countries where obstetric care is not always available), head and neck reconstruction and general plastic surgery.

The current Ghanaian training in the Canniesburn Plastic Surgery Unit in Glasgow Royal Infirmary is Opoku Ampomah, age 36, who has been trained in Ghana and holds a fellowship in Reconstructive Plastic Surgery of the West African College of Surgeons. He is progressing well through his four 4-monthly training stints with consultants in different specialties and has gained much insight into NHS procedures and practices that require application in Ghana. His enthusiasm and eagerness to work have been inspirational to our team and we aim to recruit more surgeons of his calibre to come to the UK for training.