Mid Yorkshire NHS Trust medics treat more than 100 hernia patients during Ghana mission

The medics, who work across the trust’s three hospitals in Wakefield, Pontefract and Dewsbury, visited the country with the charity Operation Hernia on two missions to treat patients in need of help.

Adeshina Fawole, consultant general surgeon and trustee of Operation Hernia, and Hannah Welbourn, consultant colorectal and general surgeon, went with senior theatre practitioners Melanie Precious and Vicky Armitage to the Takoradi region in Ghana.

At the same time, Chris Macklin, consultant colorectal and general surgeon, joined a colleague from Chesterfield Hospital on an Operation Hernia mission to the Baptist Medical Centre in the Nalerigu region of Ghana.

In total, more than a hundred patients were operated on and treated for large and disabling hernias, including six children, one of which was just over one year old.

Mr Fawole said: “Operation Hernia aims to treat hernias in less privileged counties like Ghana where they can be quite common, and if left untreated can grow much larger than you see in the UK, so it is also a learning experience for us.

“It was a pleasure to be able to travel to Ghana and for us to do what we could to help improve the lives of others.

"We also provided some training for local doctors so they can carry out operations themselves and become self-sufficient.

"I am incredibly proud of our team who have been sacrificing their own time over the years to help people from less privileged areas of the world.”