Children's first trip to Ghana

by Francis Fynn-Thompson, MD
Department of Cardiac Surgery

On Sunday Oct 14th 2007, history was made in Kumasi, Ghana. For the first time in the history of the Komfo Ankoye Teaching Hospital (KATH) at the University of Ghana, the second largest hospital in that West African nation, an open heart surgical procedure was performed. The patient was a 6-year-old girl named Sameera who underwent closure of a ventricular septal defect. The operation went smoothly and she went onto have a rapid recovery.

This remarkable and monumental event, so far away from Boston, was the culmination of many months of careful preparation and a direct result of a multidisciplinary medical mission from Children's Hospital Boston to KATH. A 24-member team from the Cardiovascular Program undertook a one-week mission to provide cardiac care to needy children in Ghana. These clinical services are unavailable to the population of 25 million Ghanaians due to lack of infrastructure, chronic economic problems and lack of specialized training. Over the course of the week, 50 children were evaluated and eight were selected for surgical repair. We provided all the diagnostic, operating room and ICU equipment necessary through generous donations to our mission. We were able to provide same high quality care that we have come to expect within our cardiovascular program in Boston.

Kumasi is the second-largest city in Ghana, a former British colony lying between Cote D'Ivorie to the west and Togo to the east with its southern border on the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Guinea. The country contains 25 million inhabitants and exactly 25 trained cardiologists -- one for every one million inhabitants, as opposed to one in ten thousand in the developed world. For children, the situation is even more dismal. There are only 2 pediatric cardiologists in the entire country and no access to pediatric cardiac surgery. While there is some open heart surgery performed in adults in Accra, the capital city, children have not had access to specialized cardiac care.

It was with this sobering backdrop that in 2006, with funding from the Children's Lifeline Program of the International Variety Club and tireless support from team leaders Beverly Small, RN, Judith Hurley, RN, and Christine Placidi, RN, (all from the CICU) that I began plans to undertake a mission to Ghana,  my country of origin. The objectives of the mission were twofold. One, to save the lives of needy, impoverished children with no access to cardiac care, and two, to train and educate local teams of professionals so that a self-sustaining pediatric cardiac center could be established. Our vision is that such a center would not only serve the country of Ghana but the entire West African region. To this end, we have the complete support of the leadership of Komfo Anokye  Hospital  and  the Ministry of Health within the government of Ghana as well as the International Variety Club.  In addition, during our recent mission we inaugurated the Ghana Pediatric Heart Fund, which will allow local individuals and organizations in Ghana to support our vision though donations. The very first donation of $10,000 was made on behalf of the Asantehene, King Otumfuo Osei Tutu, King of the Ashanti people, and the largest ethnic group in Ghana.

Our plans are for continued yearly missions to Kumasi, covering all subspecialties involved in the care of children with heart disease, until a self sustaining pediatric cardiac center can be established.