Developing World Site Evaluation

Interplast, International Aid and J&J

Staff (L to R) Interplast, International Aid and J&J
Originally uploaded by interplast.

I visited Korle Bu Surgical Skills Teaching Center located at the Korle Bu Teaching Hopital. It is a separate structure completely refurbished and equipped by Johnson & Johnson and International Aid (a US based charity). They both continue to support the center and its program. The center is used to teach surgical courses for physicians all over Africa. There are plans in the works to expand the teaching program over the next two years. I met with two representatives of International Aid and with a representative of Johnson & Johnson. We had a long and very fruitful discusson of how Interplast might be able to participate in future teaching projects. International Aid is very enthusiastic about our input. The center has four surgical tables where practice surgery is performed using animal subjects.

Arrival in Ghana

I am now in Ghana, the last stop on my three nation site evaluation trip for Interplast.  It has been a very valuable trip so far, and I hope to make as many useful contacts in Ghana as I did in Mali and Ethiopia. 

I first visited Kumasi, Ghana, which is located in the center of the country.  I almost didn't get to go.  I arrived at the airport 2 hours ahead of the scheduled departure to find that they had had no aviation fuel for two days, so all flights were cancelled.  Because there was a great commotion (since many people had tried to leave the day before and come back the next day), I decided to lay back and wait to find out what was going on.

After two hours they added the flight back, taking one plane to several cities instead of two planes to different destinations. About half the travelers had left in disgust after the first announcement, so there was now room on one plane...and apparently (since I got there) enough fuel for one.