New phase for reconstructive plastic surgery, and burns treatment in Ghana 

It is tiring to be enveloped inside pockets and cycles of negative news. The narrative of Ghana must change to the positive. One such positive stories is the completion of the National Reconstructive Plastic Surgery and Burns Centre of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.  The Centre was first commissioned on 28^thof May, 1997, re-commissioned in 2009, and finally re-commissioned this week as a completed facility on December 5, 2018. The story of multiple commissioning of the Centre highlights the political lies embedded in our national narratives. 

So this Centre has been a long time coming, 21 years afterwards. The project spanned several political administrations. But the good news is that finally, Ghana has a state-of-the-art facility for reconstructive surgeries and the treatment of burns.

A GAME-CHANGING FACILITY

There are many reasons to be excited about the news of the completion of the reconstructive plastic surgery and burns centre. Incidents of burns cases abound in Ghana. There are also several cases of deformities and disabilities caused by birth defects such as cleft lips/palates and Siamese twin; accidents and diseases such as Buruli Ulcers and cancers; as well as terrible traumatic and disfiguring injuries,assaults and burns. All these conditions can be treated with reconstructive surgery.

For a national bonus, this is the only facility of its kind in the entire sub-region, positioning it to become a major destination for medical tourism in our West African neighbourhood. 

On a personal level, everyone (young and old, rich and poor, literate and non-literate) is at risk of becoming deformed from one situation or the other. A freak accident from a mere fall on a very ordinary day, or an angry person assaulting you could result in the damage of your nose, which will deform your face. If that happens, you will need reconstructive surgery to fix you up. 

The people who do not get the privilege for their deformities to be fixed up live their lives under stiff and inhuman stigma. When you deconstruct stigma, it comes down to being shamed, dishonoured and disgraced by society to the point that a person’s ability to function as a normal human being is compromised. You will be stared at as if you are not human; it will cause you to become depressed and lesser than normal.Without reconstructive surgical assistance, some hundreds of thousands of our citizens would live with their deformities and stigma.The completion of this Centre is therefore a game-changer. 

Fact: as a country, we do have lots of potential to move to the next level as a middle-income country. We have individuals who have international-level expertise both within Ghana and in the diaspora. The completed reconstructive plastic surgery and burns Centre can save many of our citizens from debilitating conditions so they can live fuller lives. People who have been in hiding in villages and homes in misery owing to conditions that can be fixed and of unneeded stigma, will be rescued from the funk of underdevelopment to live in dignity. Everyone deserves to live in dignity! Ghana must rise!

Since photographs potentially tell much more than words, take a good look at the photographs on this page and marvel! All these types of surgeries were performed at the Centre, even when it had challenges with infrastructure. So from this point onwards, the sky is truly the limit for the Centre. 

dorisdartey@gmail.com

A burns victim underwent reconstructive surgery at the Centre
BEFORE	AFTER

A bitten nose reconstructed using forehead flap
BEFORE	AFTER

Amputated hand from an industrial accident, re-attached at the Centre
BEFORE	AFTER

A parasitic twin detached at the Centre

Fighting the deceitful use of academic titles

There seems to be an epidemic among some of our privileged elite to take on the academic title of doctor. They love to be called Doc! It really makes them feel very good about themselves. 

It is as if some of our non-academic non-medical movers-and-shakers of society have an emptiness within them that is crying to be filed no matter what. Or, it could also be that they do not appreciate what their maker had done for them so cry for more and more and more. 

After acquiring financial success and/or national fame, they have an insatiable need to fill by adding titles to their names. For some strange reasons, some of our elite have zoomed in on academic titles as the one thing they could add to complete them in the eyes of society. 

The adoption of fake academic titles comes from a deceitful heart. If you know that you are not in academia or a medical doctor; and you also know that you lobbied to be gifted an honorary doctorate, why use the title Doc? Without a doubt, the intent is borne out of deceitfulness; to elevate one’s self before people. It is to say, “See, I am Doc! I am important! Acknowledge me!” 

This practice suggests a character flaw. Anyone who can lie about personal identify can lie about anything with or without substance. Under no circumstances should such persons be trusted. A lie is a lie. Being called a Doc when you have not gone through the mill to acquire it is a lie. This too is a form of corruption; it is fraudulent. Mostly, men are the offenders, but a few highly-placed women in society have joined this party of deceit.

NUMEROUS CASES ABOUND OF FAKE DOCS IN GHANA

Next time you come across folks who have nothing to do with academic institutions or medical establishments but go about with the title Doc, do not be fooled. Pause to ponder; and ask questions. What is the institutional source of the doctorate? How long did it take to acquire the title? What did the person do to earn it?  

Imagine this. A guy I know (let’s just call him Dr Obedeka), who is the president of a professional association, suddenly took on the title doctor. The way he handled it was so sneaky, and slipped the title onto everyone around him and into the national space.  

As if by a carefully orchestrated scheme, on one ordinary day, he added the Doc title to his name on an event programme. My brother/friend (let’s call him Kofi Naade) noticed the very first public appearance of the title and asked Obedeka about it. He denied knowing anything about its mention on the programme. 

But weeks later, it became obvious that he was determined to use the title Doc. He started actually writing his name as Dr Obedeka in official documents. People around him swallowed up the lie and were addressing him as Doc, to which he gleefully accepted without any objection. So he quickly morphed from Mr to Doc in a short period of about three months. With that, one more Doc arrived in the very centre of Ghana’s media space.

He believed it fully that he was Doc. He became the butt of jokes but without shame, he held on to his fake Doc. In the past year, it appears that he could no longer take the jokes so he has dropped the title Doc from official correspondence. 

What made it even more worrying and scandalous was that it was a so-called church institution located in Nii Boi Town in Accra, the Pan African Clergy Council and Bible College/Seminary, which crowned him Doc. It was conferred as an honorary doctorate; yet he went to town to use the title. 

What right does any church have to confer doctorate degrees? Is the church of Jesus the Christ now in the business of academia to be conferring what on the surface, looks and sounds like academic titles?

Another guy in the centre of Ghana’s political space went for an honorary doctorate title in a small college in USA a few months before launching his presidential campaign. After he lost, he found his way into the bosom of academia and with that, the deceitfulness was regularized. In effect, he used the backdoor of honorary doctorate to enter a university as a high-profile academic, with full academic recognition. Since around here, we swallow a lot without question, such fraud can be perpetrated easily.

ACCREDITATION BOARD’S DIRECTIVE

Recently, the National Accreditation Board warned non-Ph.D. holders to stop using the doctor title. The Board declared its resolve “to name and shame such individuals to engender sanity and avoid the abuse of such titles”.

The grapevine has it that some of these ‘awam’ doctorate degree holders are refusing to abandon their titles. Their reason? They earned it, even if they just paid for the title! We are waiting for the NAB to crack the whip and bare its teeth to cure the abusive use of academic titles in Ghana.

You see, after being called Doc for a couple of years, it is very difficult to recall the title from common usage. What happens with the usage of titles in our part of the world is that the individuals become knotted to the titles. Their entire identities become tied to the titles to the point that they themselves do self-introductions with titles. Even when it is a fake doctorate, over time, their personalities become entwined with the Doc title.

Journalists entrench this unfortunate practice. Often, I have listened to radio interviews in which the interviewer’s real name is rarely mentioned. The journalist only says Doc, Doc, Doc. It is as if because the person is Doc, therefore his own name had been cancelled out. This practice smacks of hero worshipping.

TRICKY EXIT STRATEGY FROM DOC

If this NAB directive is to take hold and the offenders decide to be decent and quietly walk away from their deceitful “awam” doctorates, they will need to put together an exit strategy. 

They could take newspaper advertisements to announce: “I, formerly known as Dr. Obedeka, henceforth wish to revert to the usage of my previous name as Mr Obedeka.” Of course this will be ridiculous. So they will have to skip placing such an advert. 

Rather, they should handle this tricky matter by ceasing to write their names with the title Dr. Also, they should marshal the courage to nicely raise objections when they are addressed as Doc. Doing this will be good for their souls and cure them of the fraud they have committed against society.

It appears that doctorate degrees command unnecessary respect. What is so wrong with being Mr and Miss so-so-and-so? Must everyone have a title? Do such fake titles pave the way into heaven? Surely, such titles make their way to the bushy unkempt graveyards across the country, but to what effect? Why would we take a lie into the cemetery? So just call me Yaa Doris. 

dorisdartey@gmail.com

President Nana must speak about plastic waste

African proverbs are packed with so much wisdom and truths. Here are a few that acknowledge the deep wisdom of our elders. “The elders of a community are the voice of God.” “A village without the elderly is like a well without water.” “The words of the elders do not lock all the doors; they leave the right door open.” “The mouth of an elderly person is without teeth; but never without words of wisdom.”

THE POWER OF PRESIDENTIAL VOICE

Presidential voice is powerful beyond measure; it has moral authority. Fortunately, President Nana Akufo-Addo is a mature man who is firmly in the camp of elders. President Nana is imbued with the power of presidential voice and often says very noble and heart-warming things. So, when he speaks about something that is threatening to destroy our land, we will listen. When he articulates his concerns about plastic waste, it will get our attention. When he gives us his vision and plans about what to do to resolve the plastic waste crisis, we will pay attention. 

The power of presidential voice is that it can set a national agenda and show the citizens the way to go. Presidential voice can affirm already held thoughts of citizens, and can give new directions that most citizens might not have hitherto thought about. Presidential voice is therefore sought after urgently to give national direction on how to deal with the plastic waste menace.

I have been waiting and hoping for the past 22 months of President Nana’s tenure as the chief elder of Ghana to hear his clear voice on plastic waste. I have not heard it, yet. He might have said something that was not loud enough for me to hear. 

Whilst it is not wise to compare problems and determine which one is worse, truthfully, the plastic waste problem is as horrible as galamsey. They both destroy our land and water bodies. They both compromise our survival. They both need the commitment of the highest level of leadership to resolve. Just as President Nana was bold and decisive on galamsey, it is critical for him to make bold and decisive pronouncements to place Ghana on the right path to deal with the plastic waste scourge. 

THE WORLD IS REACHING A TIPPING POINT ON PLASTICS

Ghana prides itself as the first country south of the Sahara to gain political independence. Since then, we have laid claims to being first in various things. At some point, we even pushed a national slogan of being the ‘gateway into Africa’. 

When it comes to the matter of responsible management of plastic waste, Rwanda, which came out of genocide 24 years ago, has already taken over the pride of place by being the first country in the world to effectively ban single-use plastics. On a visit to the Rwanda capital Kigali, I packed my footwear in a black plastic bag. Whilst there, the bag got torn. Since I was unable to dump it into their garbage bins, I brought the torn plastic bag back to Ghana because the message over there is very clear: we do not want plastic waste. 

Increasingly, the world is waking up to the dangers of plastic waste and several countries are taking bold and decisive decisions to reduce usage and dependence of plastics, especially of single-use plastics.

As recently as late October (three weeks ago), the European Union Parliament voted to ban single-use plastics by 2021 (just three years from now). The Europeans acknowledge the folly in using certain plastic products like straws, plates, cups and cotton buds just once and throwing them away. They realized the environmental recklessness in using a straw to suck fanta or fruit juice from a cup or bottle, knowing that the straw will not decompose for hundreds of years. 

The expressed collective concern is that plastic waste ends up in the oceans, making up 70 percent of marine litter. Scientists have established that plastic waste ends up being consumed by marine life—the fishes and their cousins. Of course a whale or salmon cannot tell the difference between plastic and real natural marine food. As the fishes ingest plastics, they pass it on to us humans who eat the fish. This suggests that you and I are unintentionally eating plastics.

WHAT IS GHANA’S RESPONSE TO PLASTIC WASTE REDUCTION?

Since the world is reaching a tipping point on plastic waste, why is Ghana not also taking bold and decisive actions about plastics? Methinks that Ghana must for a bare minimum, ban single-use plastics as soon as possible. Clearly, we cannot touch “pure water” in sachet pouches and plastic water bottles because immediately, we do not have alternatives for the purpose they serve. But we can ban those plastics we do not really use, but toss about every day. 

I doubt if there is anyone in Ghana (adults and children) who does not know within their bone marrow that plastics are destructive to our land. We all know that plastics choke gutters, float in our water bodies and the Atlantic Ocean, litter our neighbourhoods to give us a filthy look, and especially that plastics do not decompose. 

We live plastic lives. If we think deeply about it, we will quickly take measures to curb the mindlessness at which we depend on single-use plastics. All the evidence suggest that we do not think about it all. Irrationality drives plastic usage. What type of civilization is this?

On any God-given day, we buy any number of meaningless items. The seller gleefully places the items in plastic bags. We happily take our package home. Promptly, without giving any though to the package, we take out our new purchase, and then toss the plastic bag into the waste bin. 

But we may not even arrive home at all with our package. Whilst in motion going about life, we may eat the roasted plantain or whatever we purchased, and then toss the plastic waste anywhere. We do not spare the roadside at all because that zone does not belong to anyone in particular. 

During our lifetime, some (most) of us do not make any contribution to the world. It is therefore unconscionable that our plastic waste will survive some 100s of years after our death. Whilst our bodies decompose and become one with nature, the plastics we throw away today will hang out in the ocean or river or farmland for centuries after we are gone and no one even remembers that we ever passed through this life. 

Dorisdartey@gmail.com

  

Sanitize religious broadcasting 

Some of the content of religious broadcasting on radio and television in Ghana belong to the profane category. Increasingly, anyone who claims to have been called by God (which god?) rushes to pay money to a broadcasting station and begin disseminating his (mostly his) own brand of religion to poison the minds of unsuspecting and gullible citizens. 

Anyone, even a crook, is free to enter a broadcast studio to say and do whatever is within their warped personal theologies. Since church has become big business in our country, some of these pastors use the broadcasts for self-promotion, staging popularity contexts, and doing things that are far from being sacred and qualify as religious.  

The worst offenders are the charismatic and evangelical one-man family-owned miracle-working prophetic hallelujah tongue-wagging churches. The 1992 Constitution fully grants religious freedom, free speech and a free media. But religious freedom does not permit craziness and irresponsibility. During this country’s struggle to liberate and open up the broadcast airwaves, no one anticipated that religious folks will use the hard-earned media freedom against the people of Ghana with an onslaught of fakery.

When you look at the way religious charlatans operate, it becomes clear that their targets are the most vulnerable, desperate, poor, sick and gullible in society. Broadcasts from the religious swindlers are packaged to draw in the vulnerable and to defraud them.

NIGHT-TIME AND DAWN RELIGIOUS BROADCASTS

I have monitored broadcasts during the night-time and at dawn in Accra and Kumasi; and get troubled and alarmed at the content, approach, and free-for-all nature of the broadcasts. In the darkness of night, the craziness in religious broadcasting is yanked up to the lowest-low because anything goes—anything. Any uncertified and untested person who claims to be a pastor, reverend, prophet, evangelist or something of the sort preach freely and engage in a heightened display of self-promotion.

On an egoistic trip, a prophet will announce his telephone numbers and invite callers into the programme. At times, he will give a general prophesy over the radio or television and with that, impress and grab the attention of the viewers/listeners.

To close the deal, the prophet quickly zooms in to invite listeners and callers to physically visit the church premises the following morning. Of course he provides vivid directions to the location as in: “Take a tro-tro; get down at Alomo Junction; ask the kenkey seller for directions on how to get to Prophet Abavadzor’s church, My Holy Redeemer Lives Forever Temple International. It is not far from the kenkey seller. You will only walk for about 15 minutes. If you want your life to change, rush and come see me tomorrow morning.” 

The above is a sales pitch that truly desperate persons cannot resist. So out of anguish over one issue or another, chiefly, grinding stinky poverty, a person (mostly women) may wake up at dawn and head to the church of the con-artist pastor, and to be exploited. It is not by accident that these funny religious locations are not found in the plush parts of our cities and towns, where the privileged live. 

Some pastors go to the extent of exposing children to ridicule, pronouncing them as witches on radio and television. By so doing, the children are traumatized and damaged for life. Without a doubt, such crude treatments will not be meted out to the children of the pastors or the children of the middle- or upper-class. Typically, it is the children of the poor, down-trodden and under-privileged who become victims of such abuses. 

ENTERS NMC’S GUIDELINES FOR RELIGIOUS BROADCASTING 

The highest number of complaints the public make to the NMC is about the abuses in religious broadcasting. So this week, the NMC launched Guidelines for Religious Broadcasting. Church groups, individuals who think they have a religious calling and need to propagate their messages, as well as broadcast stations are to be guided by the Guidelines. It is a very brief document, which is printed on a poster so it can be placed on walls and serve as a constant reminder and a guide.

The Guidelines were developed after broad consultations with various religious groups. The twelve rules are as follows:

i.     Religious broadcasts should always endeavour to promote cultural, moral and ethical values, and respect personal freedoms, rights, obligations and privacy. 

ii.   Religious broadcasts should not involve any abuse, exploitation, intimidation and manipulation of people, especially the vulnerable; and should reflect respect for fundamental human dignity.

iii.  Religious broadcasts should protect children and the vulnerable. 

iv.  Religious broadcasts should promote and defend the public interest, national identity, and cohesion.

v.    Religious broadcasts should not be used to incite, denigrate, ridicule and humiliate any faith, sect or people.

vi.  Religious broadcasts should not be used for the promotion of extremism, religious violence, and recruitment of people for religious militancy.

vii.The content of religious programmes should have high regard and respect for the cultures and beliefs of the Ghanaian society.

viii.                 Religious broadcasters should use language with decorum and decency.

ix.  Religious broadcasts should not show nudity and graphic images that undermine the dignity of the human condition.

x.    Religious broadcasts that contain manifestations within the healing, deliverance and prophetic ministry should be done with discretion, circumspection and respect for human dignity. This should be especially so in the case of children.

xi.  Public proclamations of directive prophecies or pronouncements that have the potential to cause fear and panic in people and threaten stability and social cohesion should be avoided.

xii.Re-broadcasts of materials, especially from social media, should be handled with care and circumspection.

TIME FOR RELIGIOUS RESPONSIBILITY

As a country, if we lose our morality at the altar of religious extremism, then all hope will be lost. We cannot afford to allow religious quacks to take over the soul of Ghana. We should save our culture from religious fraudsters and keep what is noble in us as a people. 

The indiscretion that has characterized religious broadcasts must cease. The “public proclamations of directive prophecies or pronouncements that have the potential to cause fear and panic in people” must stop. The vulnerable should be protected from religious gangsters and swindlers. 

The writer is a member of the National Media Commission (NMC)

dorisdartey@gmail.com

Get the WASH right! ………….Reflections for a water-sanitation conference

Get the WASH right!

………….Reflections for a water-sanitation conference

In a couple of hours, I will set out to Sogakope in the Volta Region to attend the ongoing annual water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) conference. This is the 29^thin the annual series of Mole conferences organized by the Coalition of NGOs in Water and Sanitation (CONIWAS). As I leave Accra, I cannot help but reflect on the state of our country’s water, sanitation and hygiene. 

IS WATER MORE ESSENTIAL THAN EDUCATION?

It is said (and rightly so) that water is life. The Paramount Chief of the Tefle Traditional Area, Togbe Dugbaza VIII is reported to have said at the ongoing WASH conference that “water is more essential than education”. Of course, this sounds like a very outlandish thing to say. 

How can a traditional ruler think and say such a thing in public! But he lives with his people so without a doubt, he was expressing the sentiments from the grass-root level of our society. Togbe is right in making this assertion; it is not a controversial statement at all. Togbe argued that without water, you cannot live; and that water is needed to sustain life. 

On the contrary, education is not needed on the very basic level to sustain life; you can live without ever stepping a foot in a classroom to learn how to read and write. But although illiteracy does not constitute a death sentence, it sets you back in human progression. If given the choice, how many of our disadvantaged citizens will choose water over education? But why should this even be a choice in 61-year old Ghana! 

How did such an absurd thought enter the thoughts of a respected chief of our land? Thoughts are the products of our reality. This type of extreme assertion comes from a place of unnecessary deprivation. When your citizens do not have water to sustain daily living, then they will be tempted to view education as a luxury. Ignorance will be considered as a tolerable and necessary evil. 

What is the use of a state if it cannot guarantee the provision of something as basic as water to its citizens? Water should be a human right, yet, there are parts of Ghana where residents fetch water from dirty rivers. Worst of all, some of our people share the same water bodies with animals. I live in Accra; and I buy water from very suspicious sources; delivered to my house in a funny-looking dirty contraption of a truck.

FIGHTING INFECTIOUS DISEASES 

Kofi Annan, a distinguished son of Ghana, who became the president of the world in his position as the Secretary General of the United Nations, made several pronouncements about the importance of water, sanitation and hygiene to our existence. One of the profound things he said was: “We shall not defeat any of the infectious diseases that plague the developing world until we have also won the battle for safe drinking water, sanitation, and basic health care.” 

The developing world, which includes Ghana, will remain under-developed until we fix our water, sanitation and hygiene issues. It will not matter for how many years Ghana remains independent. We can celebrate as many Independence Day events in all regional and district capitals, with 1000s of school children, market women, teachers, labourers, as well as the idle and unemployed youth marching and dancing in the very hot steamy tropical sun. 

Hiding comfortably under a shed, our presidents and ‘Honourables” can take the salutations of the marchers and dancers, with broad grins on their faces. Our traditional rulers will decorate the “march pass” venues across the country with their colourful cultural attires. But none of these antics will bring us the development we so much desire. Our efforts at national development will remain futile. 

It is important that we tackle our under-development problems at the root. According to the late Kofi Annan, at the root and at the very heart of our funk are the unresolved problems of access to safe drinking water, poor sanitation, and access to health care. 

We will continue to be sick, and suffer diseases that the developed countries have long ago found cure. Mosquitoes will continue to bite and kills us because we provide them with favourable breeding grounds and make them very happy. We will have cholera because our gutters are filthy and food is prepared and sold at some of these gutters. Our public toilets are abominations. Children in several schools do not have toilets. We pray that when in the public space, nature does not call us. Many of our people do not have safe drinking water. 

IS SANITATION MORE IMPORTANT THAN INDEPENDENCE?

In his wisdom, Mahatma Ghandi, the “Father of the Nation” of India proclaimed that “Sanitation is more important than independence”. Cleanliness and sanitation were at the centre of his thoughts. Sanitation should be for all and cleanliness should be a way of life. No human being should live in filth. We should extend our national pride about independence to national cleanliness. Our first president, Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah said that Ghana’s independence is meaningless unless it is linked to the total liberation of the African continent.

Now, the entire continent of Africa has been liberated from colonial rule. Nkrumah’s words should boom from a water, sanitation, cleanliness and hygiene point of view. The independence of Ghana will be meaningless unless it is tied to liberation from our sanitation, water, uncleanliness and unhygienic challenges.  

Let’s admit it, anyone who cannot manage his/her basic water and sanitation situation does not have life figured out. If you cannot find or afford water to take care of your basic human needs, you will not only be thirsty but you will live in a state of funk. If you have no clue of what to do with the waste you generate, the waste will potentially engulf you. Borla, toilet, urine and all sorts of human waste will surround you until you get deep into unimaginable stench. Not having access to water to drink and even to wash your hands reduces you to a lower condition of human advancement. 

WASH SHOULD BE A NATIONAL WAR

Displaying disrespect for WASH is tantamount to disrespecting our own humanity. Not being able to resolve our national WASH matters is uncivilized and is a stain on our humanity and everything we stand for as an independent nation state. It is time to take bold and decisive actions to ‘WASH’ Ghana. We should declare war against this complex but solvable problem.

The path we are currently on is not just irresponsible; it is unsustainable. We should get the WASH right or else everything else will remain stagnant.

dorisdartey@gmail.com