FOCOS Hospital rescues handball player’s career
National handball player and wing-attacker of the Cantonments Youth handball team,Jessica Regina Diame, has expressed her profound gratitude to the management and staff of FOCOS Orthopaedic Hospital for giving her another opportunity to play her favourite sport again after sitting out for nearly nine months injured.
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Last week, Jessica underwent a successful surgery at the hospital after suffering an Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) tear in her right knee during a training session at the Prisons Sports Complex in Cantonment in Accra last February.
The 25-year-old player could not raise the GH¢23,000 needed for the surgery, so FOCOS Hospital came to her rescue by underwriting the cost of the surgery, as part of the hospital’s commitment to give back to society and promote sports medicine in Ghana.
Regina went under the knife after being operated upon by Dr Joseph Ogyaadu of FOCOS Hospital and renowned surgeon, Dr Michael Maynard, of Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) and Head Athletic Team Physician at Marist College.
After the surgery, Dr Ogyaadu expressed his excitement at the success of the operation and the prospect of Regina returning to the sport fully fit in a few weeks’ time.
“Sports related injuries and the accumulated effects from such injuries have been one of the major reasons why sportsmen from Africa have either not attained or maintained their competitive edge. Sports injuries do not only focus on sportsmen.
An Anterior Cruciate Ligament injury such as the one Regina suffered could easily result from some of the daily activities, including squatting or twisting,” he told the Graphic Sports.
The national handball coach and technical director, George Bankole, was equally happy that Regina’s career had been saved.
He was grateful to FOCOS Hospital for their support and appealed to them to come to the aid of other players of the national team who were suffering from one ailment or another.
FOCOS Orthopaedic Hospital is a 70-bed Specialist Orthopaedic Hospital located at Pantang in Accra, and is noted for the treatment of complex spine and joint diseases like Scoliosis, Kyphosis, as well as other degenerative and deformative orthopaedic conditions.