KorleBu
Teaching Hospital in Accra Establishes Academic Program to Prepare Ghanaians as
Audiologists
Audiology is an allied
healthcare profession that focuses on the evaluation and rehabilitation of
individuals with hearing and balance disorders.
Currently, Ghana’s population is estimated to be 25 million, whereas the
number of audiologists is eight -- all trained at institutions outside of
Ghana. Today there is a need for 1000
audiologists to provide hearing-related services from newborn to the geriatric
populations throughout Ghana.
Ear, Nose and Throat
specialist, Emmanuel Kitcher, M.D. at the KorleBu Teaching Hospital in Accra,
Ghana, had a vision of audiologists and specialists providing needed hearing
and balance clinical services throughout Ghana. In 2003, Dr. Kitcher met Dr. Isaac Ferguson,
representative of LDS Charities, the humanitarian arm of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints. Since that
historic encounter, there has been an ongoing effort to establish an academic
program to prepare Ghanaians in a post-graduate degree program as audiologists.
The third organization to
partner with LDS Charities and KorleBu Teaching Hospital was the University of
Ghana, School of Allied Health Sciences.
Dean of the school, Dr. Patrick Ayeh-Kumi, exhibited the necessary
leadership to ensure that the curriculum was developed in order for students to
earn the newly-formed Masters of Science degree. Dr. Samuel Anim-Sampong was appointed Program
Advisor, a position he currently holds.
Help was sought for
senior or retired audiologists who might be willing to volunteer their time and
expertise in developing the needed program.
There were many who answered the call, mostly from the western United
States. All were members of the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
LDS Charities provided the means necessary to support the efforts of
these volunteers, who came to provide important face-to-face training of
students. Medical equipment and supplies
have all been donated, in part by LDS Charities as well as other donors.
As of this date six
students are completing their second year of study and four are completing
their first year. The second-year
students are scheduled to graduate in November 2013. These graduates will then spend a year in
various internships throughout Ghana prior to being certified as
professionals.
There are plans in place
for satellite clinics throughout Ghana that will provide a place for
audiologists and ENTs to work side-by-side providing desperately needed
services. The Ministry of Health has
just acquired two mobile medical vans especially equipped for audiologists and
ENT physicians to conduct clinical services by traveling to remote areas. Within the past few months a new program has
been initiated where all babies born in the KorleBu Teaching Hospital undergo a
hearing screening test. This is the only
testing of this type in all of Ghana.
Ghana is positioned to become the center of excellence in hearing
evaluation and training of audiologists in all of West Africa!
Figure 1. Ghana’s
first graduates in audiology
Back row: Graham
Amponsah, Elder John Ribera (USU visiting professor), Sesi Akotey
Front row: Dr. Samuel
Anim-Sampong (MSc Academic Coordinator), Joyce Anomaob, Elsie Nyarko, Daniel
Tumpi and Ramatu Alhassan
Left: Dr. Patrick Ayeh-Kumi, Dean of the
School of Allied Health Sciences,
University of
Ghana
Right: Dr. Emmanuel Kitcher, Head of ENT
Unit and Consultant ENT Surgeon
