The Ketu-North Municipal Hospital (KNMH) at Weta, in collaboration with the West African College of Surgeons (WACS), has carried out a five-day free medical and surgical outreach programme, where specialised healthcare services were brought to the people.

The free outreach programme was patronised by people from Ketu-North Municipality, Ketu South, Ho-West District, other parts of the Volta Region and the Greater Accra Region, and delivered specialised and affordable surgical care to the vulnerable in the remote areas.

The outreach medical programme treated conditions like goitres, fibroids, various types of hernias, lumps and pumps, and dental cases.

The Medical Superintendent of the KNMH, Dr Juliet Sefakor Kpormegbe, said the programme, which was the third to be organised by the facility since its establishment in 2022, had addressed over one hundred health problems within the five-day outreach programme.

Dr Kpormegbe said the programme had made the Municipal hospital more visible within the outreach period, and management took advantage of the opportunity to introduce its services to the people, while addressing their health needs, particularly the vulnerable who could not afford the cost of expensive surgical operations and other medical services.

She explained that the initiative was a practical step towards the achievement of universal health coverage by bringing specialists to the area to address the different medical problems confronting the residents, which had eluded them over the years.

Dr Kpormegbe disclosed that “some patients lived with conditions like large fibroids for over 20 years due to their inability to afford the cost of treatment, and took advantage of the outreach programme.”

Professor Wisdom Klutse Azanu, a Consultant Urogynaecologist at the University of Health and Allied Sciences and the Ho Teaching Hospital, and a member of WACS, said the outreach programme formed part of WACS’s pre-conference activities ahead of the annual general meeting to be held soon.

She appealed to stakeholders, corporate bodies, and philanthropists to support the hospital, which she described as under-resourced, to frequently organise such programmes, and thanked the sponsors of the just-ended outreach programme.

Professor Azanu said specialists from Ghana, Nigeria, and Cameroon participated in the outreach programme, which delivered advanced surgical care to patients from diverse backgrounds.

A Colorectal Surgeon at the Kole-Bu Teaching Hospital and a member of WACS, Dr Philemon Kumassah, said the outreach programme was particularly fulfilling, since patients who would not be able to afford the cost had benefitted.