Team of Hope, a medical not-for-profit organization, based in Buluk, in the Upper East performed free surgical services for 105 patients in November, 2019. The lead member, Dr. Benjamin Akinkang, a national hero from the Buluk community has been organizing the benevolent act for the past four years. This latest instalment of the surgeries, one of many, adds to a total of more than 600 beneficiaries of the altruistic-driven surgical outreach.

The November operations (there was one done in the first quarter of 2019) spanned a period of one week; from the 25^th of November to the 1^st of December, 2019.

The 105 cases seen could be sub-grouped as:

Hernia repair –                        49

Hydrocelectomy –                  23

Excision (various kinds) –       24

Myomectomy –                       5

Hemorrhoidectomy –              4

The team arranged and brought together a great number of medical personnel ranging from medical officers, specialized nurses, surgeons and anesthetists.

Above: a section of the team during surgery

The Buluk community, comprising the Builsa North and Builsa South districts, has an estimated population of over 100, 000 people. The Sandema Hospital is the main health facility which serves the people in the two Builsa districts.  It is not uncommon to have a high  number of people from some parts of the Northern Region popularly  called ‘overseas’ and Kassena Nankana District access the Sandema Hospital as well. This makes the hospital a critical service point with a tremendous amount of health load to bear.

Inauspiciously, the lack of a general surgeon in the district leaves most surgical cases unattended to and emergency cases referred to either Navrongo or Bolgatanga. However, surgical cases within the obstetrics and gynecology armamentarium do not pose the same challenge since the facility now has an obstetrics and gynecology specialist, in the name of Dr. Abraham Titigah, the medical superintendent of the Sandema Hospital.

Meanwhile, anecdotal reports and documented evidence show that the two districts have an astronomical numbers of surgical problems, especially hernias and hydroceles. The hospital has had enormous help from the Christian Mission Resource Foundation and APRIDEC Medical Outreach Group that have offered free surgeries over the past  decade,  but as it is, more hands would always be needed. Team of Hope, is therefore, strategically and uniquely placed to give more comfort, happiness and health to people suffering these surgical problems.

It is worthy to mention that the team’s ambition and effort – to bring surgical services free of charge to the doorsteps of people has not been smothered into oblivion as it won, and was crowned the winner of the recently held MTN heroes of change awards (Health Category): A clear epitomisation of the team’s impact on the local community and the country at large.

The team leader maintains that he is motivated and poised to continue to help people, especially those from the Builsa land because they are largely responsible for the man he has become today; he sees it as opportunity to give back to them.

Well-wishers, both foreign and local, have predictably demonstrated their support for the teams’ activities through different ways.

To cap this notes, the Team of Hope extends deep gratitude to all supporters, especially the Paramount Chief of Builsa land, Nab Azagsuk Azantilow, MTN Ghana, the MP for Builsa South, Dr. Clement Apaak, the medical superintendent, entire staff of Sandema Hospital and all team members. May you continue to be awesome.

Scripted by:

Johnny Atibire Nyaaba

RGN, BSc, MSc

SNO/Nurse Manager

Sandema Hospital

The Ghanaian singer with an angelic voice Efya appears to be dismayed at news of her having delivered a baby boy. A run-through a thread on her twitter timeline suggests she wasn’t happy about the news which appears to be untrue.

As usual, it is another time for a blogger to get blamed for not being accurate enough with a report or simply making news out of what others may describe as not being news worthy. Truth be told, when I came across the tweet, I almost wrote a story congratulating her. Unfortunately, I was betting on betway which took a little time. After going through the thread, I was actually happy some of her followers found a nice way to let her know it’s her fault when such inaccurate information is put out. The fact is that, she ignored queries pertaining to the true meaning of what she posted.

Bloggers are opinionated; thus, they are free to read meanings to anything they find interesting.

So please, our dear celebrities and superstars If you don’t want us to write our interpretations of your moves, make them explicit. That way we can be on the same page and maybe, be more complimentary in our write-ups. Sorry if we hurt you, we just write based on how much we know and want to share.

According to a story on www.ghbase.com, images of a baby boy posted on Efya’s twitter timeline suggests she’s just had a baby.

Considering the fact that several Ghanaian celebrities have always managed to keep their pregnancies hidden only to surprise the Ghanaian populace with news of giving birth. It is not surprising that such news would be prominent. In any case, the caption which is a question further proves why bloggers have to invent stories from anything they find appropriate.