Sharab has now officially started its Genitourinary Reconstructive Surgery (GURS) Service.
One of the most common operations performed in GURS is urethroplasty which refers to repair of narrowing of the walls of the urethra (water pipe) referred to as urethral stricture. It mostly affects men and causes them to have severe urinary problems including the inability to pass urine altogether. Urethral strictures are caused by injury from road traffic accidents, fall astride, infections and instrumentations.
Urethroplasty is the gold standard treatment for urethral stricture. Specialists in this field are few all over the world.
On 24th September 2018, the first urethroplasty was performed in Sharab Medical Center on a 32yrs old man who has suffered from his condition for almost two decades (since he was 12yrs old). He has since then had four attempts at repairing the condition before coming to Sharab Medical Center. He was eventually referred to the UK by his doctors. It so happened that our medical director was trained in the hospital he was referred to and the experts there explained to them that they could have it safely done in Sharab Medical Center and save more than a million dalasis in cost.
It was on Monday, 24th September that history was made for the patient and the entire country when he successfully had his Surgery in our center. He is recovering from the Surgery and is expected to finally start leading a normal life.
This service was not previously available in The Gambia and is very rare in the whole West African region. Conditions requiring this Surgery are very common and those afflicted with them lived a miserable life with no hope for a cure.
Now the landscape has changed thanks to Sharab Medical Center and those afflicted with the problem can get help in The Gambia.