A Ghanaian surgeon has successfully operated the country's first penile surgery implant, privately-owned Joy Online reports.

Dr Samuel Amanamah, a sexopathologist with Kumasi South Hospital, led a group of four surgeons to perform the surgery on a 55-year-old man who had been suffering from severe erectile dysfunction, Graphic Online reports.

It adds that the patient has started having erections strong enough to have sex.

Dr Amanamah said the treatment was now accessible to Ghanaians:

It was a dream come true that Ghanaians can now access this treatment in Ghana” He said that erectile dysfunction should be seen as a disease like any other and that people should seek help.

He said:

There is always a cause for erectile dysfunction and sometimes by just simply eliminating the cause, erections improve naturally.” He urged health professionals to be sensitive to needs of their patients saying that for every one patient who comes with erectile dysfunction there are nine others who are embarrassed, Joy Online reports.