Junior doctor James Arkley, 23, is packing his bags ahead of a trip to the Ghanaian capital of Accra as part of a team of medics looking to boost the West African country's heart surgery programme.
James works at the RVI and is the most junior member of the team comprising a number of consultants - including Ghanaian-born Enoch Akowuah who is one of the project leaders.
Enoch is a consultant cardiothoracic surgeon at the South Tees Hospitals NHS Trust and he led a team back to his birthplace of Kumasi in 2019. There they helped train doctors out there to fit pacemakers and carried out some surgery themselves.
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The aim of returning is to continue that work and to teach medics there to carry out further procedures such as fitting defibrillators and doing angiograms.
James, who lives in Jesmond and is in his first foundation year as a doctor at the RVI, was asked along by consultant Joel Dunning, who he worked under while studying on a placement at North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust. He's hoping to train in surgery as his career progresses.
He was brought up in Ingelby Barwick in Teesside.
James told ChronicleLive : "Until a few years ago, Ghana didn't have any heart surgeons. So they did a trip to Kumasi to start the pacemaker programme there. They did trips in spring and autumn 2019. And since then they've done a number of pacemaker surgeries by themselves."
He said the trip this time would see medics split into two teams - one heading back to Kumasi to pick up with the pacemaker programme - including by delivering refurbished pacemakers to make it cheaper for those in Ghana.
"But the second team, which I'm part of, is staying in Accra to do some cardiothoracic surgery," James said.
He explained the team had already planned a number of mitral valve repairs - among other complex surgeries.
James said: "I'm hoping to help assist with some of the operations if appropriate, and in addition to this also try and capture the stories of the patients the team are treating. Overall, I am there to lend a helping hand and I'll get stuck into anything."
"I'm happy to be able to contribute to such a big project. The biggest takeaway from this mission is that I will have been able contribute towards the care of people suffering unfortunate circumstances, who otherwise wouldn't receive their pacemakers or heart operations without the help of the amazing teams in Ghana, South Tees and North Tees."
"I can't wait - It's one of those once in a lifetime opportunities. It's an amazing thing and one not many people get asked to be involved in."
Enoch Akowuah added: "We had a first trip in early 2019, followed by a second trip six months later. Then everything stalled hugely and that’s been a real shame because we put in quite a lot of work and the momentum has just been taken away.
"But having said that, there was a point where we thought we would never go back – and so the opportunity to go back is quite exciting. We’re excited to reconnect with the team over there."
He said the aim was to build on the progress his team made in 2019. "That over 20 patients have had pacemakers put in over the two years we haven’t been there is testament to the first two visits really; the fact that we were able to leave some tangible skills behind."
The charity Pace4Life which works to reuse pacemakers around the world is helping to fund the project, and Enoch is hopeful future years will see other kinds of doctor get involved.
He said: "We really want this relationship to grow and develop and other specialties get involved because that’s when you really see the benefit – and we continue to be well supported by the senior leadership team at the trust to make this happen."
The team of nine will spend a week in Ghana from March 12.
