Orthopedic Humanitarian Oheneba Boachie-Adjei, M.D. Goes Home to Ghana

Orthopedics This Week—August 4, 2014

On November 1, 2014 Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) will bid adieu to Dr. Oheneba Boachie-Adjei, M.D., who has served as chief of the Scoliosis Service since 1994. Dr. Boachie, who was awarded the Humanitarian Award from the Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) in 2004, is returning to his native Ghana where he will oversee orthopedic care at a hospital that he established. He tells OTW, “My return to Ghana has been in the making for many years. In 1972 I came to the U.S. for a purpose and I have achieved that. I have trained at the finest orthopedic hospital in the country, and have given back what I could. I am 63 years old and if I want to train more surgeons in Ghana, now is the time."

It was in 1998 that Dr. Boachie established the Foundation of Orthopedics and Complex Spine (FOCOS) in order to provide care to patients with spinal deformities and other orthopedic problems in developing countries. "Working with many generous people from the U.S. and Ghana, we have treated more than 27,000 patients and have performed more than 1,000 surgeries. As I move forward, I will have all of the excellent training from HSS to accompany me, in particular the professional standards. My goal is to practice orthopedics like I practiced it in New York."

"Specifically, this means instituting universal standards and perioperative protocols. You typically would not have spinal cord monitoring in the OR in Ghana, but I could not deviate from this excellence, so I have made sure that our patients will indeed have this. I engaged professionals in the U.S. and trained local nurses who are now experts in spinal cord monitoring.

In addition, we have treated approximately 200 patients at the new hospital with arthroplasty and to date have had zero infections. This has only been achieved by adhering to the standards to which I am accustomed, such as sterility, monitoring equipment, and protocols."

Read the full article at Orthopedics This Week.