HVO Launches Orthopaedic Program in Ghana
[Washington, DC - August 25, 2010] - HVO is pleased to announce the establishment of an orthopaedic program in Ghana at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital. Komfo Anokye is a 1000+ bed, older general hospital organized into four main inpatient blocks housing Medicine, Pediatrics, Ob-Gyn, and Surgery. In May of 2009, a new Accident and Emergency Center opened under the direction of the Orthopaedic Trauma service. It is adjacent to the old hospital and is a state-of-the art facility equipped with a triage area, minor and major treatment facilities, a resuscitation ward, three sub-acute wards for men, women, and children, an intensive care unit, four operating rooms, and a helipad.
The Hospital and the Orthopaedic Trauma Service are extremely busy with close to 200 orthopaedic patients. There are three functional orthopaedic services each under the direction of a surgeon. Additionally there are five surgical house officers and five or six general surgical residents on the service at one time as well as medical students rotating through the hospital. The new Orthopaedic Resident Training program consists of four to six first year orthopaedic residents. In addition five or six current general surgical residents interested in pursuing their specialty training in orthopaedics will also be in the training program.
The initial focus of the program is to provide training in trauma and pediatrics to the staff and to augment training provided to participants in the new orthopaedic residency program which begins in the fall of 2010. Other critical specialties will be needed in 2011. Prior academic experience is helpful but not required. Assignments are two to four weeks in length.
This program is the result of several years of effort and coordination between the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), the Orthopaedic Trauma Association (OTA) and HVO. The AAOS and OTA will be working closely with HVO in the provision of educational materials and other support for this project. Dr. Peter Trafton, a member of both AAOS and OTA, will be the program director for this new site.
A private, non-profit organization, HVO was founded in 1986 to improve global health through education. HVO designs and implements clinical and didactic education programs in child health, primary care, trauma and rehabilitation, essential surgical care, oral health, blood disorders and cancer, infectious disease, nursing education and wound management. In more than 25 resource-poor countries, HVO volunteers train, mentor, and provide critical professional support to health care providers who care for the neediest populations in the most difficult of circumstances.
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