Lion’s Club Donates Standard X-ray Machine

Brenda Yufeh

16 June 2011

The apparatus, placed in the surgical ward of the Yaounde Central Hospital, will henceforth improve bone surgery.

Surgeons, particularly orthopaedists, specialised in treating injuries and diseases affecting people’s bones, muscles, joints and ligaments, will henceforth be able to view real-time X-rays during surgery, using a new, portable X-ray machine that is expected to reduce travel, improve outcomes and speed-up recovery for patients. Last Tuesday, June 14, the Lion’s Club branch in Yaounde donated the machine to the Ministry of Public Health during a ceremony presided at by the Minister of Public Health, André Mama Fouda. The machine has been placed in the surgical ward of the Yaounde Central Hospital (HCY).

The Flouroscan InSight Mini C-arm, otherwise known as a portable C-arm, can be wheeled into an operating room to provide surgeons with images of the patient during surgery.

Surgeons say the machine can be used in all fracture care and allows the doctor to see where he is putting screws, wires and plates. During non-fracture surgeries, such as bone and joint replacements, the portable C-arm allows surgeons to view internal structures that would otherwise be hidden or obscured to the naked eye. By viewing real-time X-ray images during a procedure, medical practitioners say they can quickly verify their work in the operating room, which increases the likelihood of a positive outcome and reduces the need for follow-up of surgery as well as reduce surgery time.

Previously, at the Yaounde Central Hospital, patients undergoing surgical intervention for fractures had to be taken to the X-ray department of the hospital after the surgery, to see if the fracture has been properly adjusted. According to the Director General of the Yaounde Central Hospital, Professor Bella Assumpta, this is a significant investment in the hospital that will provide immediate quality healthcare to patients. The Minister of Public Health used the occasion to express gratitude to the international non-lucrative organisation (Lion’s Club) which is contributing enormously in many domains to provide better healthcare to Cameroonians.

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