STOP MASTURBATING WITH DANGEROUS OBJECTS - DR AFOKO (DG, SEPT 26, 2011, PAGE 3)

A UROLOGIST at the Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH), Dr Akis Afoko has cautioned Ghanaians who have cultivated the habit of using dangerous objects to masturbate their genitals to desist from that practice.

According to him, such foreign materials could destroy blood vessels in the reproductive system, thereby leading to internal bleeding which can result in death.

He said men can suffer additional complications, such as impotence from this dangerous practice.

Dr Afoko’s warning follows revelations that some men use safety pins to masturbate the male genitalia, whiles women use thermometers and candle wax to insert into the female genitalia.

“When these objects tear the blood vessels in the genitals, it would lead to bleeding and the blood would accumulate inside the system over time and lead to several complications, including death,” he stated.

Two weeks ago, doctors at the TTH successfully operated on a 32-year old man who had a 12-centimeter safety-pin trapped in his penis.

The pin allegedly found its way into the patient’s penis when he attempted masturbating with it.

Dr Afoko, who led a four-member medical team to perform the surgery, said the safety-pin was removed and the patient had fully recovered.

He said the team used a surgical procedure, known in medical language as ‘open ureterolithotomy’, which involves an incision into the urethra for the removal of any foreign object.

He said the patient earlier stated during examination that the pin must have found its way into the penis because it was fixed somewhere in the bed sheet, which he used the night before.

“He later confessed that he was masturbating with the safety pin when it suddenly went deeper and deeper till he could not remove it and sensing danger, he reported to the hospital for attention,” he said.

Dr Afoko cautioned men and women to be careful of what they do in their attempt to get sexual pleasure, noting that pleasure could come with dangerous complications.

On the success of the operation, Dr Afoko said many people were unaware that the TTH had a number of specialist physicians who were performing life-saving surgeries.

“Doctors at the TTH have the potential to transform medical practice in the north if given the needed push,” he stated.

Asked what type of support they needed, he said “we need modern medical equipment, like endoscopy machines, which can make our surgeries simpler and faster.”

Meanwhile, although some urologists have occasionally visited the north to repair urological disorders, Dr Afoko is the first and only urologist to have accepted to work in a hospital in Northern Ghana.

As expected the pile of work before him each day is overwhelming, but he said he remains committed to serving the north.

Currently, the TTH boasts of about not less than 100 doctors and they include a number of specialists, such an ophthalmologist, neurosurgeon, obstetric gynaecologists, radiologists, psychiatrists, orthopaedic surgeons, paediatricians and urologist.