The medical team, led by Captain Robert Wallace, supposed to be in the country for three weeks, have already spent two weeks at the hospital assisting their Ghanaian counterparts at the Military Hospital to various surgical operations on patients.

Patients with tumours, cancers, and fibroid, among other ailments, who have been booked for surgery at the hospital, were being operated upon by the medical team at no cost. Briefing the media in Accra on Thursday, Captain Wallace said the medical mission formed part of a partnership between Ghana and North Dakota Military in the USA.

He told the media that most of the cases seen and worked on at the hospital were at the extreme levels unlike those treated in the USA. He said; “In the US citizens do not wait until their cases got to such extreme levels but here, we noticed that most surgery cases seen are extreme and intense in nature”.

Capt. Wallace, therefore, suggested that more attention needed to be given to preventive care in Ghana. He said the mission was, however, serving as a good training experience for the team who would go back to the US to impart the knowledge acquired to their colleagues. “The programme offers us the opportunity to understand the fundamentals here which is a good experience for us,” Capt. Wallace said.

The medical team took the media round some of the units at the hospital including the Emergency Ward, Operating Room Theatre and the Oral Maxi Facial Unit or Dental Department to show them how the team worked. Lieutenant Colonel David Tucker, a member of the team, said the team had observed that the hospital lacked equipment but the work processes were the same as was done in the USA.

“They are doing wonderful job with little resources here,” Lt Col. Tucker said.

 The Management of the 37 Military Hospital are hosting the medical team which  had become a yearly exercise conducted in some African countries.  The co-ordination is between the 37 Military Hospital and the US Army Africa (USARAF – AFRICOM).