VVF Specialist Calls for More Intervention to Assist VVF Victims.

Magburaka, 19, 07 (MOHS) – The MSF Holland Vesico Vagina Fistula Specialist, Volker Herzog attached to the Magburaka government hospital in the Tonkolili district has described the marginalization of VVF patients as inhuman.

 

Dr. Volker Herzog, VVF Surgeon Specialist

Dr. Herzog who was talking to the Public Relations Officer of the Ministry of Health and Sanitation, Mr. Jonathan Abass Kamara during his Media tour in the Tonkolili district observed that most of the suffering VVF victims are treated as outcast and abandoned in the bush to die. He said VVF is not a curse  and  can be cured. if taken for treatment.

He rated the death rate among abandoned VVF patients as alarming and called for more positive interventions to address their plight.

 Trained in Nigeria by a Dutch Surgeon Specialist attached to the Nigeria Ministry of Health, in the person of Dr. Kees Waaldjik, Dr.Herzog started work in the Magburaka government hospital in   Novembert 2006, and has since then successfully operated over 70 VVF cases. Majority of them from Kambia, Bombali and the Kono districts.

Dr. Herzog said there are 25 patients presently admitted in the Wards, adding that Six more are expected from the Kambia district.

Surgical operation for VVF patients in the Magburaka hospital, Dr. Herzog said is Free of Charge, hoping that Surgeons in Sierra Leone would be encouraged to take VVF Surgery as part of their discipline with a view to saving the lives of the very many suffering women in rural Sierra Leone.

Dr. Herzog between November 2006 and February  this year 2007 has performed 70 successful VVF operations.