Maruf Mohammed
Six-year-old Maruf Mohammed has lost his penis to a bad traditional barber or ‘wanzam’ in Accra Newtown.
He now needs over a $100,000 to undergo a complex surgical procedure in the US for a penis reconstruction, his father told DAILY GUIDE when he came to the office of the newspaper with the pathetic story last Tuesday.
According to the father, now unemployed, the traditional barber who also doubles as circumcision specialist performed the procedure on the boy a few days after his birth but something went wrong. The boy bled profusely after the ‘wanzam’ cut too deep and high leaving the penis hanging by a thin strand of skin.
“When we got to the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital the penis had fallen off. The doctors did very well undertaking a surgical procedure to allow the boy to be able to urinate. It did not take long for the opening to seal up after healing. Another surgery was performed but the hole sealed up again and then another surgery followed this time the surgeons used a part of the skin from his mouth for the procedure,” he narrated.
The ‘wanzam’ did not visit us at the hospital and even though he was arrested, “I asked that he be released. After all the deed had already been committed.”
With no penis, the boy now urinates through the opening constructed by surgeons at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital.
A Ghanaian domiciled in the US, upon seeing the small boy, linked his father with the Presbyterian Hospital in New York to construct a penis for the boy.
Until that is done, it does not look like little Maruf would be able to have sexual intercourse. The New York Presbyterian Hospital, in a letter to Maruf Mohammed, put the total cost of the treatment at $105,730.33.
A letter dated February 23, 2018 and signed by Dr. William Appeadu-Mensah, a consultant paediatric surgeon and urologist, reads: “Maruf Mohammed aged 6 presented to the Paediatric Surgery Unit of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital following partial amputation of the penis after circumcision. Meatonomy was done to help prevent stenosis of the meatus. Later, in May 2017 a buccal mucosal graft was applied to the tip of the glans to help improve cosmesis. Nothing can however be done presently in this centre. Any assistance to help them achieve better result in any centre worldwide will be appreciated.”
The distraught father has asked that those who can support his little boy should call his number: 0243585893.
By A.R. Gomda