07/07/2025
IMPROVING LAPAROSCOPIC COLORECTAL SURGERY UPTAKE IN GHANA.
The uptake of laparoscopy as the first choice approach in colore**al surgery in Ghana is very low, it is zero compared with over 90% in the developed countries, as patients are offered the traditional open approach which they accept without a choice. It was to help address this state of affairs that in May this year, Mwin Tuba Hospital & Colo-Proctology Centre confidently declared that she was going full scale on laparoscopic colore**al and other abdominal surgeries.
From then, the laparoscopic surgery consortium of the hospital has steadily broken boundaries with their continued expansion on the types of cases they perform laparoscopically. They are bursting the seams; are in the vanguard to improve the uptake of laparoscopic colore**al surgery in Ghana.
Ayekoo to this team for their incredible zeal and resilience, and for their unwavering push to establish laparoscopic surgery as the default surgical approach for all abdominal procedures.
Laparoscopic surgery is the modern approach in abdominal surgery as it puts less stress on the surgical team and the patient who recovers quickly. With the right logistics and support it is very simple to perform.
Since their first laparoscopic surgery which was performed at the hospital on 31/06/2025, the consortium has demonstrated prowess in operating on the gallbladder, stomach, right colon, left colon and re**um with outstanding success, and all their patients, except the gastric and re**al cases, went home on post operative day three and continued to be in good health.
The successes of this marvelous team of locally brewed laparoscopic surgeons tells a great story. The delay in improving the uptake of laparoscopic surgery in Ghana has been a concern to general surgeons in the country.
Three factors have hindered the development of laparoscopic surgical practice in Ghana, namely, lack of a formal training programme in laparoscopic surgery in the country, lack of equipment for laparoscopic surgery in many hospitals and the cost of laparoscopic surgery. These are easy to solve problems and Mwin Tuba Hospital & Colo-Proctology Centre is at the forefront with this team in addressing them.
Accredited as a satellite training centre for colore**al surgeons at their highest level of training (Fellowship and Post-Fellowship) in this country, Mwin Tuba Hospital & Colo- Proctology Centre is leaving no stone unturned to fulfill this mandate to its highest possible accomplishment. The hospital has assiduously continued to provide all equipment and tools to facilitate the delivery of high quality and safe surgery that consistently meets contemporary best practices and benchmarks, and laparoscopic surgery is the most recent addition.
The hospital is currently implementing its level three laparoscopic surgery training programme (advanced laparoscopy training model) for trainees who are having hands-on experience in the operating room. The first two levels of the training programme that the Centre is still working on which are to start soon are the Basic level, which is a dry laboratory model, and the Intermediate level, which is the wet laboratory model.
Congratulations to Dr Theodore Wordui, (leader and chief trainer of the laparoscopic surgery consortium), Drs Philemon Kumassah, Sandra Tsatsu, Narious Naalane, Maurice Duodonu, Isabella Dakubo, Bless-Michael Bonney, Anna Doris Blackson-Darko and Divine Kwami.
The other members who complete the team are Emmanuel Tapaa-Naah, Sheilla Abena Ewura Brown, Alice Bugri, and Prof Jonathan CB Dakubo who is a co-trainer and also coordinates/supervises the activities of the team.
If it can be done closed why open?
Laparoscopy: the benchmark in Colore**al surgery must become the first choice for every patient who has to undergo colore**al surgery in Ghana.
Prof Jonathan CB Dakubo
