The Dormaa East District Hospital-Wamfie with the assistance of a surgical outreach team from the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital has successfully conducted fistula repair surgeries on some residents within the District.

The beneficiary patients were six gynaecological cases and one fistula case involving a 44-year old mother of eight who developed fistula two years after undergoing a fibroid surgery.

A statement signed and copied to the Ghana News Agency by Dr Gabriel Ganyaglo, a Surgeon at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital explained that her leakage started when the catheter was removed few days after her fibroid surgery.

It said although she could void by herself, she noticed she also leaked urine uncontrollably and narrated how miserable she felt whenever going to bed knowing her bed would be wet the next morning.

The fistula repair surgery, the statement disclosed, was performed on May 27, 2019 and she had since been discharged and re-gaining control of her voiding function.

“It was with much joy and elation that the Acting Medical Superintendent Dr. Ransford Hoyah-Quashie declared: ‘we are on the fistula map now. We should be re-designated as a regional hospital,” the statement said.

It quoted Dr Ganyaglo as saying: “We have to demystify fistula surgery. This surgery was successfully performed using the instruments available in the facility and I believe it is possible to find expertise within each region to support smaller facilities in performing fistula repairs.”

“We can truncate the misery of our patients if we pool resources towards fistula care in Ghana. Let us look within, let us own the programme to end fistula in Ghana,” he added.

Dr. Ganyaglo commended the staff of the Wamfie Hospital for their leadership, dedication and commitment, which contributed immensely to the successful conducting of the surgery, the statement said.

According to the statement, the patient expressed her gratitude to God for bringing the team to her aid and described her two-year period of leakage as “hell”.

“I came in leaking, but now I leave dry. Thanks be to God” she said. The hospital started as a health centre in the late 1970s. It was rebuilt as a polyclinic in April, 2014 and on June 1, 2016, was upgraded to a district hospital.

Currently, it is a 45-bed capacity facility with an annual out-patient attendance of 37,000 and 1,100 in-patient admissions. The hospital appears to be on track to making strides in the Bono Region, the statement said.