The two-year-old boy who was attacked by a dog in Accra has undergone successful surgery, according to Dr. Hope Glover Addy, a Pediatric Surgeon at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital.
Dr. Addy explained that plastic surgery was performed at the anus, the affected area, and the stool was diverted to the abdomen to facilitate smooth passage.
The boy was attacked by a mixed shepherd-breed dog, resulting in the loss of part of his anus, flesh around the area, and his private parts, leaving him in critical condition.
Despite the success of the initial surgery, the toddler’s chances of survival will depend on the outcome of the final surgery, which is yet to be performed.
He said: “The boy is injured, part of the anus and the skin around the place have been chopped off so, we have diverted the stool from the anus to the abdomen.
“If the place clears up, we will remove the plastic surgery to see what we can do, whether to patch up the raw area, then after that we can think of subsequent surgeries… bringing another vault back to the anus.
“If he does not get any overwhelming infection, the place will heal normally…and with the anus, there are some muscles that enable one to control the passage of stools. If we test again and we realise that the muscles are not working very well, it means the child may not be able to control the amount of stool that would come out of the anus so he will just be walking and the stool will just be coming out, unless we find other procedures to help him not to soil himself,” he explained.
The paediatric surgeon said the injuries were severe, requiring intensive treatment, with significant financial burden on the parents.