As part of the Institute for Innovation and Philanthropy in Ghana, Virtue Foundation returned to Ghana for it’s annual Surgical and Medical Mission from October 27th to November 4th, 2017. The Mission Team was comprised of 2 medical volunteers from Austria: a General Surgeon and an OB/GYN Specialist. Also included on the team was a camera crew, which was able to document the work the Virtue Foundation carried out over the course of the 2017 Mission, but also note the progress the Foundation has made in partnership with local healthcare professionals and staff in bettering the health of underserved communities across Ghana.

Mission-related work took place in multiple locations during the 2017 Mission. In Tumu District Hospital, East Sissala District, the Volunteer Team screened over 150 patients and carried out 21 successful surgeries in areas of general surgery and obstetrics and gynecology. Several patients were given Pap Smear examinations as part of an ongoing Virtue Foundation effort to provide this service to women in the community of Tumu, a test that is currently difficult to access in this rural part of Ghana. Teaching and lectures were also provided in order to support knowledge building, develop local capacity, and transfer skills to local hospital staff. In addition to the on-the-ground clinical work, the team arrived with a variety of supply and equipment donations valued at upwards of 30,000USD that was left behind for Tumu District Hospital to use for the benefit of the community at large.

The Mission Team also travelled to Wellembelle, where the Virtue Foundation supported a health center with an infrastructure donation in 2016. The visit to the Wellembelle Health Center allowed the Team to see how the donated items are being utilized. Since the Virtue Foundation donation of healthcare related items, the center has been entirely refurbished by the community, staffed with a doctor and additional nurses, and opened to patients and both urgent and non-urgent cases.

The Mission wrapped up with site visits to Wa Regional Hospital, Wa, and also Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Accra, where the volunteer surgeons were able to lecture to respective departments and look for opportunities for future collaboration in these two important medical institutions.

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