Kumasi, May 12, GNA - A team of surgeons from Germany and their counterparts at the Accident and Emergency Centre (AEC) of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi, on Tuesday began performing the first plastic surgeries on two accidents victims at the Centre. The first surgery involved removal of parts of the skin on the thigh to cover the arm of a 39-year-old male accident victim, who had her skin on the left hand peeled off in an accident, exposing his bones.

The second was the repair with dissection and preparation of the free scapula and soft tissue with skin flap for reconstruction of the tibia (bone between the knee and the ankle), on an 18-year-old girl, who sustained a fracture on the right leg during an accident. The surgeries, which were expected to last for about seven hours each were being performed free of charge.

The German team was led by Professor Detlev Hebebrand, Head of Department of Plastic, Reconstructive, Aesthetic and Hand Surgeries of the Diakonie Hospital in Rotenburg, Germany, while the Ghanaian team was led by Dr Oheneba Owusu-Danso.

Briefing the media at the theatre, Dr Joseph Akpaloo, a Plastic Surgeon at KATH, and member of the team, said the cost per surgery was currently estimated between 7,000 and 10,000 Euros.

He said the surgeries, which were the first to be conducted at the Centre, were collaborative efforts between surgeons at the Centre and those from Germany, to enable them to share ideas. Dr Akpaloo said the Centre had come to stay and would continue to offer quality services to patients who might need any type of plastic surgery and other emergencies and accident related trauma. 12 May 09