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A modern hospital, the Foundation of Orthopedics and Complex Spine (FOCOS), has been inaugurated at Oyarifa, near Accra, to serve the health needs of Africa. The specialized hospital is to provide quality, comprehensive and affordable orthopedic care for all. It also aims at granting equal opportunity of quality health care to patients who otherwise could not afford the expensive procedures and medication. Inaugurating the facility, the Minister of Health, Mr. Alban Sumana Bagbin, said the government had usually tilted its health policies towards primary health care and prevention, restricting its efforts in specialized care. He attributed that to limited resources and challenges the health sector faced. He said the innovation was appropriate, citing the fact that only 15 orthopedic specialists were available to serve the 24million people in Ghana. It was against this background, he said, that the government supported FOCOS in its quest to bring quality world-class spinal care to people of Africa. He said the government was considering the non-profit organization�s application of tax exemption in order to reduce the financial burden involved in its operations. He lauded the initiative and patriotism of the Founder and President of FOCOS (USA/Ghana), Dr Oheneba Boachie-Adjei, for carrying that great vision and implementing it with the support of the FOCOS team and donors. Dr Boachie-Adjei, who is also the Chief of Scoliosis Services at the Hospital for Special Surgery, New York, and Professor of Orthopedic Surgery, Weill-Cornell Medical College of the Cornell University, said his dream was to bring good health and orthopedic relief to the people of sub-Saharan Africa through Ghana. He said he found it necessary to build the capacity of doctors in his country to enable them to serve the continent better.He said his outfit was partnering the government and local medical practitioners to achieve a national goal in the health sector. �FOCOS will continually partner with local medical and nursing schools to bring quality training to the professionals of Africa,� he said. He appealed to individuals, philanthropic groups and faith-based organizations to support the FOCOS children�s Fund in order to cater for less-privileged children with orthopedic and spinal conditions. Some individuals who had undergone surgery to correct one spinal disorder or another at FOCOS gave testimonies of their experiences. The former President, Mr. J.A. Kufour, in his testimony, read by a former Minister of Health, Dr Richard Anane, expressed gratitude to the team for the care offered him during his surgical procedure weeks earlier. He said the services and the expertise were comparable to the best around the world. Mr. Kufour lauded the organisation�s commitment to the provision of quality spinal care for the people of the continent. A banking executive, Ms Salome Okudzeto, who suffered from scoliosis, was grateful to Dr Boachie-Adjei for helping correct the deformity. According to her, she encountered the FOCOS team 11 years ago and had since benefited from therapies.FOCOS is nonprofit organization established in the USA in 1998 and subsequently in Ghana. Since its inception in 1998, it had treated over 17,000 patients locally and internationally.The team has performed over 700 surgeries, including complex spine, total knee and hip replacements, and hosted 300 international volunteers worldwide, surgeons and nurses inclusive. The modern 50-bed orthopedic hospital behind the Pantang Psychiatric Hospital on the Accra-Aburi highway replaced the relatively small FOCOS Clinic previously operational at East Legon in Accra. It has facilities such as a state-of-the-art surgical Theatre, Radiology, Laboratory, Pharmacy and Physiotherapy departments. It also provides ambulance services, has a cafeteria and offers laundry services.