Ghana Trims O&P Services

Daniel Kodi, prosthetist and head of the National Prosthetics and Orthotics Centre, Accra, Ghana, has announced that the center will be cutting back patient care services due to lack of practitioners. Kodi was described on ghanaweb.com as being the sole practitioner at the center, which serves the entire country of 23 million people, plus neighboring countries including Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, and Togo. Kodi plans to retire in March 2008. According to ghanaweb.com, orthotic technicians support Kodi at the center, and a "skeleton staff" of orthotists manage cases in other regions of the country.

Kodi also made an appeal for funding to train O&P educators. He stated to the Ghana News Agency that "Unfortunately, Volta Region does not have a single orthotic (sic) to handle their cases. People in need of services have to travel from the north and other regions to Accra for such services." He continued that students at Ghana's School of Allied Health Science do not express interest in its O&P program, which was developed in 1999, and that "there are no lecturers to teach the programme."