A Neuro-monitoring Technologist at the FOCOS Orthopedic Hospital, Ghana, Joshua Tiyaliwa Laari, has appealed to the general public to invest in neurosurgery in the country to improve its outcomes.

He made the appeal on grounds that neurosurgery is not affordable for most Ghanaians.

Dr. Joshua Tiyaliwa Laari noted that, “basically, we need investments and we need more collaborations. We have to be very intentional about investing in this field because investment is very critical, in terms of human resources, trained staff, financing, equipment, etc.”

He indicated that with the utmost support from the general public and any institution willing to come on board, treatment will be affordable for all patients suffering from any neurosurgical condition to have medical care.

“If there’s that kind of support, I think it will help bring down the hospital cost for the patient to be able to access this type of technology and get the best of care. So it is very important that we collaborate and invest. If there are institutions out there that want to invest, this is an area that I’ll recommend,” he stressed.

Dr. Laari made the appeal on the Super Morning Show on Tuesday, as part of discussions on a ground breaking brain surgery conducted by neurosurgeons at the Greater Accra Regional Hospital (Ridge).

According to the neurosurgeons, the brain mapping surgery undertaken on a 64-year-old man to remove tumors in the brain, was highly successful.

During the brain mapping surgery, patients stay awake while the process is ongoing. It ensures that the surgeons find the exact places where the tumors are located, remove them without affecting any other tissue and also ensure any senses which are affected during the surgery are corrected.

Despite the successful surgery, the neurosurgeons acknowledged that there is a lot more to be done in order to perfect the act. They, thus, called for more collaborations between health professionals to ensure improved surgical outcomes for brain surgery in Ghana.

“We need a lot of training in this area. We are really working so hard, so we are collaborating with other people in other parts of the world and we hope that in the near future, we have neurophysiology technologist in all parts of the country and also in West Africa,” Dr. Joshua Tiyaliwa Laari said.

On his part, the Director of the Institutional Care Division at the Ghana Health Service who is also a Consultant Neurosurgeon & Public Health Physician, Dr. Samuel Kaba Akoriyea, asserted that, “for neurosurgical outcomes to be good, it is not just about neurosurgeons. It is a complex issue that we need to address from the ground. We need a good radiology department, which is well-resourced with neuro radiologists.

“You need a good Intensive care unit where you can go in and do the best surgical procedure you can but the most important thing is for you to have a good ICU with neurointensive care and also you need to have a good neurosurgical unit with all the necessary equipment.

"Beyond that, you need a psychotherapy unit. With these surgeries, you need to address the health system as one…the nursing unit, the anesthesia unit, good biomedical engineers, and even the one cleaning the floor should be on top of his/her game because if they don’t do that then you get the infection.

“So going forward, we have certain things we need to do. We have certain challenges as a country and that’s why this calls for collaboration. When we understand that this is for the safety of the patient which is not only about conducting the surgery and getting rid of the tumor, but also ensuring that the patient survives at an acceptable degree of life. For this to happen, we have to have these kinds of collaborations and we need to have all the necessary resources and logistics to improve this," he added.