New device makes circumcision painless

By Kepher Otieno

Medical experts have introduced a device that makes male circumcision painless, cheaper and faster.

With it, it takes eight minutes, not 25, to circumcise.

This means older people who feared circumcision due to advanced age have now no reason to worry.

Known as Tara KLamp, the device is made of a plastic material.

It does not let blood flow into the penis glands. Traces of blood remain in the plastic coil tied around the organ.

No bandages are required because there is no post-surgical bleeding. It protects against accidental amputation of penis glands and other injuries.

The device was on display during the first medical engineering scientific conference in Kisumu yesterday.

Safest surgical tool

According to Dr Gibon Ogada of Bradmon Health Care Services, the group that introduced Tara KLamp, it is the safest surgical tool. It is pre-sterilised and to be used only once, the medic says.

Ogada says risks of cross infections such as HIV and hepatitis from inadequately sterilised instruments are eliminated.

"Adults who initially feared inflammation of the male organ, bleeding and stitching after the cut now have a reason to smile," Ogada says.

Ogada said the device has been introduced at St Joseph’s Ombo Hospital, Pastor Machage Memorial and St Camilus in Karungu, Migori District.

Other institutions where doctors have been trained to circumcise patients using the device are Kisii, Tabaka, Ram, Nyangena, Hema, all Marie Stopes institutions and Kisumu.

Many men in Luo Nyanza have embraced circumcision due to publicity of research evidence that the cut reduces HIV risk by 60 per cent.

Alien culture

The practice has been an alien culture to Luo men until recently when Prime Minister Raila Odinga and some NGOs launched a campaign to have the community embrace the practice. Raila defied opposition from the Luo Council of Elders. The PM held rallies across Luo-Nyanza to discuss male circumcision as a medical intervention to reduce the HIV/Aids.

In Malaysia Tara KLamp is the recommended device for use in Government hospitals.

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