German Medical team offers free plastic and orthopaedic surgery

Atibie (E/R), Feb. 14, GNA - A seven-member German medical team made up of plastic and orthopaedic surgeons and nurses from Interplast, a German health organisation, are offering a two-week surgery to patients at the Kwahu Government hospital at Atibie. Pro-Interplast, Ghana, a local non-governmental organisation, made up of Ghanaian philanthropists, sponsored the programme. This was the second time that the German Medical team came to Ghana to offer such assistance to a number of patients in the country, according to Mr Seth Adjei-Baah, Managing Director of Shaba Enterprise Limited.

He said the team offered similar assistance at the same hospital in February last year where over 120 patients received free plastic and orthopaedic treatment to correct some deformities on the various parts of the body.

Mr Adjei-Baah said members of the team decided to spend part of their annual leave to extend health delivery system to the disadvantage patients in the developing world.

The leader of the medical team, Dr Michael Schidelko, said Interplast decided to treat patients since most of the developing countries lacked the needed equipment and personnel to undertake plastic and orthopaedic surgeries to correct deformities.

He said plastic and orthopaedic surgery cost between 8,000 and 10,000 euros in Germany and urged patients with those problems to take advantage of the presence of his group to correct their deformities. Dr Schidelko said he had undertaken 20 plastic surgeries in a number of developing countries for the past six years and commended the Ghanaian Medical team at Atibie hospital for their co-operation and hard work.

He, however, expressed concern about some frustration and problems they went through at the Ghana Embassy in Germany before securing their visas for the trip.