ACCRA, July 25 (Xinhua) -- The 14th Chinese medical team and Ghanaian doctors have successfully carried out the first laparoscopic transabdominal anterior hernia repair within the West African country's public hospital system.
The surgery was performed Wednesday at the Lekma Hospital in the Ghanaian capital of Accra, led by Yang Yongguang, chief of the Chinese medical team, and Mahamadu Zakariah, chief of the surgery department of the hospital.
"Sometime in February this year, I developed a health issue with pains in my abdomen. An X-ray conducted at the 37 Military Hospital revealed I was suffering from a hernia and was booked for surgery in August," said Godwin Seglah, the 46-year-old patient who underwent the surgical treatment.
In a recovery ward, he told Xinhua that a Chinese friend introduced him to the Chinese medical team at Lekma Hospital.
"I came here on Tuesday and was taken through the surgery on Wednesday. At first, I was scared, but I am feeling better now. The doctor did a wonderful job. And now I'm picking up and don't feel the pain I used to have when the hernia started anymore. I hope to recover fully soon," he added.
Yang described the surgery as "a breakthrough, from zero to one."
"We hope to apply minimally invasive techniques to more procedures in the future to serve the people of Ghana," he said.
Commonly appearing in the abdominal, groin, navel, or surgical scar areas, a hernia occurs when internal parts of the body, such as organs or tissues, push through a weak spot in the surrounding muscle or tissue wall.
