Authorities of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital have announced that the facility will begin liver transplant procedures this week.
This will be the first time a hospital in Ghana will carry out a liver transplant.
The CEO of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Dr. Opoku Ware Ampomah, said this was a key milestone for the hospital.
“Through collaborative initiatives, the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital has been able to successfully undertake kidney transplants. Next week, we are going to start doing our first liver transplant and this is by a purely local team.”
“This is a pure local team of doctors who have gained expertise in this area and are going to start delivering this service to our population,” Dr. Ampomah added.
The hospital made similar strides in December 2019, when it performed a successful kidney transplant for four patients with kidney conditions
This was also considered a breakthrough for local medicine practice in Ghana.
As far as handling liver is concerned, the hospital has had a hepatobiliary surgeon and liver cancer team in the past that have been providing treatment to patients suffering from liver, pancreatic, and bile duct cancers.
The Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital is considered the premier healthcare facility in Ghana.
It has three centers of excellence; namely the National Cardiothoracic Centre, the National Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, and the Radiotherapy Centre.
This addition has increased the number of highly specialised surgeries such as re-attaching severed hands, key-hole, and bladder reconstruction that the Hospital undertakes.