The Team of Hope, a community-based Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) at Sandema, has appealed to individuals, philanthropists and organisations for support to perform its annual free surgical operations for the poor in the Builsa area, Upper East Region.

The NGO, made up of health professionals and founded in 2015, has for the past seven years offered free surgical services to people, who cannot afford such services.

Dr Benjamin Akinkang, the Founder of the NGO, who called for support through the Ghana News Agency, said many people were benefiting from the services of the team and emphasised the need for support to continue to render its services.

“People are benefiting, so let us see how we can help sponsor the team’s activities. For sponsorship and funding, we need it badly to help serve our people better,” Dr Akinkang, the Lead Doctor of the team, said.

He said, “When we started this work, Sandema Hospital really played a very big role. The Hospital virtually bought everything we needed to work with, and the little we have, we add.”

He said in 2021 and 2022, the Hospital was financially constrained and could not procure consumables, “So the team virtually had to buy most of the things, which is putting a strain on us because we are not getting any kind of funding.

“It is just contributions from our Board of Directors and individuals who buy into the idea. We have spent a lot of money in buying gloves, gauze, plasters, springe and needles, drugs among others,” he said.

Dr Akinkang said the surgeries posed great financial burden on the team and reiterated his appeal for support for the NGO to continue to offer surgical services to residents in rural communities.

The Founder said the team, which hitherto, conducted the surgeries only in the Sandema Hospital, extended its services to the Fumbisi Health Centre in the Builsa South District, “Team of Hope actually carried out the first-ever surgery in Fumbisi.”

Dr Akinkang, an award winner in the health category of the MTN Heroes of Change programme in 2019, said the decision to extend their services to Fumbisi was to ease the financial burden and stress on patients having to travel to Sandema for the surgery.

The Lead Doctor noted that the theatre in Fumbisi was not fully functional to conduct major surgical operations, “So basically the cases we did there were hydroceles, hernias and lipoma incisions, the minor cases that we can infiltrate and do.”

He said cases that required serious anaesthesia were referred to the Sandema Hospital, adding that about 70 cases were screened in Fumbisi, out of which 49 were operated on, while the rest were referred to the team in Sandema.

The surgical procedures, which started on November 14, and ended on November 18, saw a total of about 236 patients, including children, undergo various surgical procedures such as colectomy, hydrocelectomy, thyroidectomy and hernias among others.

A team of Doctors, Nurses of various categories, Anaesthetics and orderlies worked overtime to ensure the surgical procedures were done successfully, with some patients discharged while others are recovering.