A knee patient walking after surgery
Eighty-five people suffering from knee and hip deformities have benefitted from this year’s Vitamilk Child Malnutrition Foundation and Operation Walk Team free surgeries.
The surgeries, which will be conducted at the St. Joseph Orthopaedic Hospital in Koforidua, are expected to fix up the patients so they can walk again.
Speaking to DAILY GUIDE about the free surgeries, Prof. Agyeman Badu Akosa, chairman of the Vitamilk Child Malnutrition Foundation, said such act benevolence is needed in Ghana, as many people are living in pain due to knee or hip deformities through road accidents and certain health conditions.
“About two per cent of children born in this country have abnormal haemoglobin and there are a lot of our people with sickle cell disease which develop into avascular necrosis of the hip joint and that makes their walking imbalanced and the only thing you can do is to replace that head of the femoral through transplant,” he revealed.
However, most patients, he indicated, are unable to afford the surgeries which cost about GH¢25,000 at the Joseph Orthopaedic Hospital.
Prof. Akosa added that the collaboration between the two entities was to bring relief and hope to the patients, who otherwise could not walk properly or be living in pain.
“You should see the transformation after the surgeries, total transformation,” he stated.
He said the orthopaedic surgeons and their team are experienced in their work and hopefully more patients will receive the free surgeries to correct their conditions.
“We are hoping to have two teams here soon with the support from corporate Ghana,” he mentioned.
Madam Elizabeth, a teacher who is also a beneficiary of the campaign, shared her story of how this campaign has enabled her go back to her teaching job.
According to her, four months after child birth she noticed symptoms of arthritis which became worse after visiting several hospitals without a solution to her ailment.
She narrated how the difficulty in walking and bending made her quit her teaching job which she loves so much. She expressed her appreciation to Vitamilk for taking on this initiative which has restored her health.
Vitamilk Child Malnutrition Foundation and Gentle Giants, the importers of Vitamilk, have pledged to collaborate with the team of surgeons to make this a yearly project.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri