Hydrocephalus: 12 Children Operated Upon
20-03-2017 17:58
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The Gynaeco-Obstetric and Paediatric Hospital in Douala was host to seven medical specialists from Bordeaux, France.
Those who used to think that big head (hydrocephalus) and epilepsy cannot be medically treated need to revisit their point. “These diseases do not kill; they are easily treated, and can be detected at their early stages and treated with efficient means. By this we can modify the child’s life and include him like any other person in the social and family life. By a vaccination programme we can prevent them.” These are the words of Prof. Jean-Rodolphe Vignes, Neurosurgeon from the Centre Hospitalo-Universitaire Bordeaux, France, at the end of their mission to the Yassa-based Gynaeco-Obstetric and Paediatric Hospital in Douala March 17.
The seven-man medical mission consulted over 100 children suffering from hydrocephalus and epilepsy, 12 received surgical operations from March 13-17. The children range from ages 0-16. Apart from the diseases, the medical mission took interest in educating mothers on prevention in order to avoid diseases from affecting children during pregnancy. If transmitted, the unborn child may develop malformations like big heads, pain in one area of the head, or handicap. The mission which consists of neurosurgeons carrying out medical operations in the head and spinal cord, neuro-pediatricians who treated epilepsy and epidemiologists specialised on all sort of diseases, have appreciated neural diseases to be 5-6 times higher in Africa than in Europe.
“This is a hospital which needs specialists from abroad to enable us offer good treatment to patients. We don’t have such specialists in Douala. We have been told what we are doing that is correct and what we ought to improve upon,” the General Manager of the Hospital, Prof. Emile Mboudou, told CT.