Dr. Koffi Agossou

Dr. Koffi Agossou is a senior consultant general and laparoscopic surgeon at the Centre National Hospitalier Universitaire Hubert Koutoukou Maga (CNHU-HKM) in Cotonou — Benin's national university hospital and the country's principal tertiary care centre for complex surgical emergencies and elective procedures. With 15 years of surgical experience, he is one of Benin's most experienced abdominal surgeons.

Benin has a surgical workforce that faces significant demand pressure: the country's population of over 13 million is served by a small number of qualified surgeons, making each experienced practitioner's capacity to train others particularly important. Dr. Agossou is both a practising surgeon and a clinical educator, supervising surgical residents at the Université d'Abomey-Calavi Faculty of Health Sciences.

He trained in general surgery at CNHU-HKM and subsequently completed advanced surgical training in France at the Hôpital Lariboisière in Paris, gaining exposure to laparoscopic techniques not yet widely adopted in Benin at that time. Returning to Cotonou, he established laparoscopic cholecystectomy as a routine procedure at CNHU-HKM — a significant advance for patients who previously required open surgery for gallbladder disease.

Dr. Agossou completed his medical degree at the Université d'Abomey-Calavi, Faculté des Sciences de la Santé, Cotonou — Benin's principal medical school. He undertook his surgical residency at CNHU-HKM and obtained the Diplôme d'Études Spécialisées (DES) in General Surgery. He completed advanced training in laparoscopic surgery at Hôpital Lariboisière, Paris, France (2014–2015). He is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons (FACS) and a member of the College of Surgeons of West Africa (COSWA).

Dr. Agossou performs the full range of general surgical procedures with an emphasis on abdominal surgery. In emergency surgery, he manages acute abdomen including perforated peptic ulcer, acute appendicitis, intestinal obstruction, and abdominal trauma — operating 24/7 on the acute general surgical take. He performs trauma laparotomy for solid organ injury and bowel perforation. In elective surgery, his most frequently performed procedures include laparoscopic cholecystectomy for gallstone disease, laparoscopic appendicectomy, hernia repair (inguinal, umbilical, incisional) using tension-free mesh techniques, and bowel resection for colorectal disease. He also performs emergency caesarean sections in obstetric emergencies when obstetricians are unavailable.

Dr. Agossou consults in French, Fon, Yoruba, and English. CNHU-HKM serves patients from across Benin and neighbouring countries including Togo, Nigeria, and Niger. For patients from the Beninese diaspora in France and Europe, he offers video consultations for pre-operative assessment and surgical second opinions. Medical visitors from international surgical organisations have collaborated with CNHU-HKM on laparoscopic surgery training programmes, of which Dr. Agossou has been a central participant.

Dr. Agossou received the Société Béninoise de Chirurgie Award for contributions to laparoscopic surgery development in Benin. He has been recognized by COSWA for surgical education contributions in West Africa. He has published research on laparoscopic surgery outcomes in resource-limited settings and presented at West African surgical society congresses.