15 kids amputated at KATH due to delay in reporting bone fracture

Orthopedic surgeons at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital are alarmed at the increasing cases of pediatric fractures with rotten limbs and warned parents against resorting to alternative medicine for such cases.

In 2019, 15 kids with rotten limbs who were not given immediate medical attention were amputated at the Hospital’s Trauma and Orthopedic Directorate.

A child bone fracture, also known as pediatric fracture, is a medical condition in which a bone of a child is cracked or broken.

A total of 529 cases of pediatric fractures were recorded at KATH in 2019 alone, most of which authorities say, were caused by vehicle knockdowns and falls.

Some of the fractures also occur in schools when the children are playing unsupervised.

Head of the Directorate, Dr Dominic Yeboah Konadu, said parents often trivialize injuries in the arm or leg and resort to alternative forms of treatment.

“Because the fractures in children in schools occur in just one arm or leg, parents trivialise it and Resort to alternative treatment of care, by the time the kids are brought to KATH, the limbs are rotten and insensate,” he noted.

Dr Konadu explained that as an emergency measure, the rotten limbs have to be amputated

“One worrying thing is that when the affected limbs are rotten, we have to intervene with an emergency measure of amputating the affected limb but the parents turn round accusing us at the Hospital that we always amputate limbs but if immediate care was sought at the Hospital the limbs would have been saved,” he explained.

Traditional bone setters and other alternative care in treating pediatric fractures is the preferred choice by a number of people. The practitioners, however, have challenges in proper handling of fractures and treatment

Dr Konadu Yeboah disclosed the Ghana College of Physician and Surgeons is partnering AO Alliance in initiating a nationwide training for traditional bone setters on basic treatment of fractures.

“The truth of the matter is that a lot of people prefer seeking first treatment from the traditional bone setters and other alternative care providers. However there are some excesses in their treatment”

He said they were in talks with the bone setters to organize a basic training workshop for all the bone setters “so they can be able to bandage fractures well and also refer cases beyond them to professional orthopedic practitioners immediately”.