A team of renal transplant experts led by QEHB surgeons Andrew Ready and Nicholas Inston is hoping to perform its first operation on a child during a week-long medical mission to Africa.

The trip to Accra in Ghana, which started on Saturday 21 April, has been arranged by the Transplant Links (TLC) charity, which aims to foster transplant expertise in developing countries.

The TLC team, which has carried out three successful transplant visits to Ghana over the past four years, includes nephrology consultant Graham Lipkin and operating theatre technicians Adrian Shaw and Gordon Evans from the kidney transplant unit at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham.

It is completed by trainee surgeon Tim Brown from Belfast and TLC chief executive Jenni Jewitt-Harris.

The TLC teams, in conjunction with local doctors, have previously only operated on adults suffering from kidney failure.

Mr Ready, consultant renal transplant surgeon and clinical service lead for renal surgery at QEHB, said they were now hoping to carry out their first paediatric operation at the Korle Bu Hospital in Accra.

He said: “We performed the first ever renal transplant in Ghana during our initial visit in 2008. This time, we are looking at three or four transplants, including probably the first paediatric procedure on a child of 15.

“We are continuing to build confidence there and it also gives us a chance to review transplants from previous visits. Not only do we make a big difference to the lives of three or four people each time, but we hope they will see it as a development for the future.”

QEHB recently received international recognition for its work in helping to develop vital links with the Korle Bu Hospital in Ghana, including the creation of a life-saving dialysis programme for children and pregnant women.

UHB became only the second trust in the UK to be awarded Level A status in the Sister Renal Center (SRC) Program, run by the International Society of Nephrology (ISN).

Dr Lipkin said kidney disease was a major health problem globally, with a three-to-five fold increase in Africa compared to that seen in the UK.

TLC is due to carry out a similar transplant mission to Trinidad in June.