The Member of Parliament (MP) for the Nabdam Constituency in the Upper East Region, Dr Mark Kurt Nawaane, on Monday, led a team of health professionals to start performing surgical operations on about 100 people with various health problems in his constituency.

The MP said the operations included; hernias, hydroceles, lipomas among other minor surgeries and would be done within five days, and explained that “We are not moving that much into the internal organs.”

He said they were done by a team of health professionals including; a Plastic Surgeon, General Medical Practitioners, Anaesthetists and Surgical Nurses at the Nangodi Clinic, where he built male and female wards with theatre attached to augment health service delivery.

The MP, who is also the Chief Executive Officer of Saint Mark Hospital at Dunkwa and Wassa Akropong, said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Kongo.

Asked why the team would not perform plastic and reconstructive surgeries, Dr Nawaane said “even though we have a Plastic Surgeon, the theatre is not adequately equipped for operations that can go beyond three hours.”

“We can go beyond the three hours, if we meet a difficult case, but we wouldn’t like to go beyond that. I have seen some fibroids, but they will not be done here.” Dr Nawaane said the operations would be done for free to help the constituents, “The Health Insurance is there, but it is underfunded and so there is always a co-payment, which our people cannot afford to undergo these operations.” Touching on his achievements, the MP who is seeking re-election said he used his Common Fund to construct 18 boreholes and intended to construct more to complement the efforts of the Assembly, and provide safe drinking water for constituents. “I am looking at the funding, even if it means intervening with my own resources, I am ready to do that to ease the water problem of our people. This problem cannot be solved in a year, but if we identify it as a problem and make a conscious effort, we will be able to alleviate it.” Dr Nawaane said even though the District Assembly was complementing his efforts, by practically building boreholes around, the population of Nabdam was increasingly growing and the needs of the community were many that they could not be met at the same time. According to him, in 2017, he used his own resources to sponsor Senior High School students, saying because the government was yet to settle down in office, he had not received the MP’s Common Fund for that period.