Ghana’s first plastic surgeon, Dr Anthony George Laing, has disclosed that he performed the longest surgery of his career on former Asante Kotoko head coach Karim Zito.

According to his account, the former Medeama SC coach was assaulted by individuals who attempted to snatch his phone, resulting in a serious injury.

The surgeon explained that during the struggle for the phone, the coach’s hand was cut and left hanging, requiring urgent and complex treatment.

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“The coach of Kotoko, Karim Zito, you must have seen it in the papers. This was quite early, maybe late 1997, ’98, or perhaps later, but it was a while ago. He was assaulted and nearly lost his whole hand. The hand was hanging by his skin.

"The assaulters wanted to snatch his phone. So, I had to put the whole thing back,” he said during an interview with Kafui Dey.

Dr Laing revealed that it was the longest surgery he had ever performed due to the extent of the damage and its challenging nature.

He stated that he had to work on the tendons, blood vessels, and other structures of the hand to reconstruct it, with the help of a trainee assistant.

“I did it, and it took me about 7 to 8 hours. You have to repair the tendons, the blood vessels, and the nerves. Usually, you do the back of the hand first because the structures at the front are more delicate. If you do the front first, you may disrupt what you’ve already done.

"So, we usually start with the back. Sometimes, it involves shortening the bone so you can freshen the wound margins. Then you move on. Luckily, this was a clean cut. So it was mostly a matter of joining up the bones first, then the back, and finally the front. It took me about 7 to 8 hours,” he explained.

He further added: “I was the main surgeon, and I had an assistant. In fact, the assistant wasn’t even a plastic surgeon — just a trainee, so, I did most of it. Occasionally, we ask a trainee to perform a particular procedure while we supervise, so they pick up the skill.”

Watch the interview below:



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