This month, InterSurgeon had the pleasure of a second chat with Dr Maxwell Boakye. He is looking for speakers who would be willing to travel to Ghana for their inaugural annual neurosurgical conference, Aug 29-31.
Dr Boakye is Professor and Vice Chair of Neurosurgery at the University of Louisville, USA and has strong connections to Ghana. He has been working hard for some years to support education, research and training development in Ghana. We first spoke in February 2024, at that time Dr Boakye said of Ghana’s neurosurgery programme; “The skills are there but it needs research capacity – more academic and more scholastic. For example, looking at outcomes and ways to improve the systems.”
Ghanaian healthcare system
In Ghana, the healthcare system is a mix of public and private. Trainees potentially learn in public institutions over sites in 4 large cities; Accra, Kumasi, Tamale and Cape Coast. All patients must pay for their hospital care. Dr Boakye says; “There is not much of an insurance system.” Although there are neurosurgeons operating in Ghana, there is “not much neuro-rehab – there is no inpatient rehab.”
Research
In the last year, Dr Boakye has been working hard to build neurosurgery research capacity in Ghana; “We are still waiting for IRB and MOU approval-the projects are well described and we have a memorandum of understanding between Louisville and Ghana.” This is part of his aim to help increase research capacity in Ghana. He wants to use existing skills and use research, to enable practising clinicians in Ghana to improve the systems themselves.
Not for profit
In 2023, Dr Boakye established a not-for-profit charity called the Ghana Brain&Spine foundation. This foundation was established to help with medical and neurological screenings to aid diagnosis and to develop cognitive development for disadvantaged kids. At the moment, The Ghana Brain and Spine foundation are working with Elichess Club for a collaboration called Chess Mind Matters. This initiative uses chess as a tool for cognitive development.
InterSurgeon and his conference
Dr Boakye has used InterSurgeon in the past. He has received responses to his requests but, at the time of speaking, had not chased them up. He says the responses can be general and broad; “It doesn’t always pinpoint if these are the right people.” He has come back to InterSurgeon to appeal for members to come to Ghana because this year, Dr Boakye is planning the inaugural annual neurosurgery course. He is looking at a program of 2-3 days which will cover different areas of neurosurgery including didactic sessions and practical hands on section over three days; “There is nothing like this West Africa. I want to bring together each year some experts that have expertise in teaching neurosurgery who want to help train the next generation of neurosurgeons in Ghana and West Africa.” He is appealing for a diverse mix of speakers from neurosurgeons to neuro-nurses for this conference from many different countries. If you are willing to volunteer as a faculty and travel to Ghana for this conference please contact Dr Boakye via his profile here.
