A team of international heart surgeons and their Ghanaian counterparts
yesterday performed the first ever heart surgery at the 37 Military
Hospital.

The operation was on a three-and-a-half-year-old hole-in-heart child.

The child is convalescing at the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital,
Professor Charles Yankah, a Ghanaian heart surgeon based in Germany who led
the team to carry out the operation disclosed to the Times on Monday.

Prof Yankah told the Times that, “the incidence of cardiovascular diseases
in the country is high”, which calls for partnerships to develop
cardiovascular medicine in the country.

He said the country was confronted with cardiovascular diseases as the
lifestyles of the population had become sophisticated, saying “every day
you hear that someone has died from heart attack or stroke”.

The World Health Organization estimates that by year 2025, cardiovascular
diseases will surpass HIV/AIDS as the leading cause of death in African
societies.

He said the team was exploring the possibility of conducting another
surgery before its departure.

Members of the team are from Sweden, Germany, South Africa, United States
of America and Nigeria.

They are in the country for the Accra Heart Summit being held to create
awareness of cardiovascular diseases in African society and forging
capacity building in cardiovascular medicine in Africa.

The international team of surgeons, as part of the heart summit, conducted
workshops for about 50 Ghanaian doctors to develop their surgical and
medical management strategies to manage and treat heart related diseases in
the country.

There are discussions on possible collaboration going on between the team
and the 37Military Hospital authorities for the establishment of the second
Cardiothoracic Centre at the hospital’s post-graduate college for the
training of cardiovascular surgeons, cardiologists, cardiovascular
physiologists and researchers.

Ghana has only one cardiothoracic centre at the Korle-Bu teaching Hospital
for the estimated population of 23 million.

Prof Yankah, who is the Course director of the German Heart Institute in
Berlin, lamented the dearth of heart related doctors in the country, saying
the only cardiothoracic centre in Ghana at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital
was inadequate for the population, that the proposal to have one
established at the 37 Military Hospital was justified.

He estimated that between two and three per cent of the population had
heart related diseases, adding that the Accra Summit was aimed at
developing the capacities of Ghanaian doctors and providing them with
further studies for the management of heart related diseases.

Prof Yankah said the ideal situation was to have trained cardiovascular
physicians at all the regional hospitals to diagnose and treat people with
heart related diseases who might not require surgery.