These treatment processes must be undertaken by qualified medical personnel to avoid circumstances of malunion, non-union or even worse, gangrene. According to a study that compared the number of orthopaedic surgeons in Ghana to the United States, about 24 orthopaedic surgeons were available in Ghana, relative to 23,956 surgeons in the United States. Thus, Ghana had an appalling orthopaedic surgeon to patient ratio of 0.9 surgeons to 1 million patients, compared to the US’ 79 orthopaedic surgeons to 1 million patients (Brouilette et al, 2014) [7]. The huge gap in primary fracture care in Ghana is thus filled by traditional bone setters (TBSs) who are informally trained care givers with an untested and unlicensed expertise in providing bone fracture treatment (Wedam, Twumasi, 2017) [8]. Due to persistent factors such as inadequate bone surgeons, cost of treatment, illiteracy and superstition, the services of TBSs are widely patronised across Ghana. One hospital in Ghana reported that as high as 63% of bone fracture patients who reported to the hospital left to seek care from TBSs (Yempabe et al, 2020) [9]. It is however imperative to note that traditional bone setting is not a new phenomenon in the Ghanaian context (Wedam, Twumasi, 2017)
[8]
. Long before the advent of orthopaedic
treatment of fractures, fracture patients were seeking care form TBSs. However, the patronage of TBS care has persisted even after the institution of orthopaedic care methods. A study conducted in Techiman in 1996 discovered that up to 97% of 34 respondents preferred to seek care from a TBS for a ‘simple’ fracture. Up to 57% of the respondents reported to prefer to treat a more complex fracture with a TBS (Ventevogel 1996) [10].
6 PROPOSAL – Traditional Bone Setting & Complications in Cape Coast
