- Commends First Sky Group
A team of doctors at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) have performed the country’s first kidney transplant on two patients, touting the feat as signalling the facility’s capacity to carry out advanced and sophisticated medical procedures.
The team included specialist doctors, nurses and anaesthetists who performed the procedure in the first week of July, with the two patients, both males, currently recovering at the hospital.
The surgeries, sponsored by the First Sky Group, were estimated to cost some US$21,000 each with the hospital expected to perform about four additional kidney transplants in August.
Indeed, the procedure is expected to offer respite to Ghanaians in terms of cost; as similar transplants in South Africa and India cost more than US$50,000.
Speaking at a media briefing in Accra, Head-Department of Surgery at KBTH, Professor James Edward Mensah, said the two patients responded well to their transplants.
He said the KBTH has instituted an ethical committee to ensure there are guidelines put in place to prevent legal tussles in kidney transplantations.
The First Sky Group
The Executive Chairman of First Sky Group, Eric Seddy Kutortse, at the briefing disclosed his company has since 2016 been supporting patients at the KBTH to undergo dialysis; and it has so far spent GH¢30million on this objective.
He explained that the cost of performing transplants with foreign expertise is too expensive, adding: “Earlier, the Group had sponsored three patients to undergo transplants in India at a cost of US$250,000 for each patient and their donors”.
He said the procedure’s high cost abroad led First Sky Group to lend KBTH support in undertaking the transplants locally to reduce cost, in order to ensure more people benefit.
CEO-KBTH, Dr. Opoku Ware Ampomah – who spoke on the future of transplantation in the hospital, said KBTH has some of the best-qualified expertise in Africa. He however noted that resources are sometimes a challenge for the facility.
Dr. Ampomah said the KBTH is currently advocating legal frameworks and legislation for organ donation and harvesting, so that people can donate their organs when they die.
He commended First Sky Group for its support in helping kidney patients through transplants, adding that only a few patients can afford to pay for such surgeries.
