Establish rehabilitation centres for trauma cases

Dr Francis Odei-Ansong, Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgeon at the Tema General Hospital has urged government to establish Rehabilitation Centres for trauma care and to manage musculoskeletal injuries in all major referral hospitals across the country.

He indicated that most patients admitted to a sophisticated trauma unit in the country were discharged without adequate rehabilitation services, and the level of disability experienced by them could have been measured, even while they were still sick and in the hospital.

Dr Odei-Ansong told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Tamale after a three-day training workshop organised by the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons for Journalists from Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions, on how to report on Trauma and Orthopaedic cases.

It was organised in collaboration with Arbeitsgemeinschaft fuer osteosynthesenfragen (AO) Alliance, a development non-profit, non-governmental organisation aimed at improving care for the injured in middle and low-income countries.

The session was also to help achieve AO Alliances project objective. The project is dubbed: “Paediatric Fracture Solutions of Ghana Project”.

The project seeks to reduce and prevent disability, morbidity and mortality from paediatrics trauma-related cases through education, and improving clinical care provided by doctors, nurses, allied healthcare workers, first interveners and primary caregivers.

Dr Odei-Ansong added that trauma systems in the country should be measured to ensure long term outcomes from their treatments and also to provide the inpatients medical rehabilitation services.

He stressed the need to train health professionals on medication for musculoskeletal injured patients to reduce disability, morbidity and mortality from paediatric trauma cases in the country.

Dr Dennis Odai Laryea, Senior Public Health Specialist at the Ghana Health Service who also spoke to the GNA reiterated the call to government to establish more trauma and effective emergency medical systems across the country to enhance trauma treatment.

He stated that there was wide gap in access to timely Prehospital care and emergency medical system in the country and said such phenomenon needed to be addressed.

Dr Laryea said this would contribute significantly to the formulation and direction of national policies regarding injury management and injury prevention and would invariably reduce its social and economic impact on the country.

According to Dr Odai Laryea, Road Traffic accidents, especially motorcycle related ones were significant cause of injuries in the country.

He advised policymakers to focus on interventions that would reduce incidences of road traffic accidents to reduce the number of injuries reported to the hospital.