Dr. Bakary Sanneh

Dr. Bakary Sanneh is a general surgeon at Serekunda General Hospital, located in Serekunda, the Gambia's most populous city and the commercial and residential heart of the Greater Banjul Area. With 17 years of surgical experience, Dr. Sanneh is one of the very few trained surgeons in this small West African nation, and his practice at Serekunda General Hospital serves a densely populated urban catchment area that includes the bulk of the Gambia's urban population. The Gambia has an extremely limited surgical workforce relative to its population, and surgeons like Dr. Sanneh bear a significant individual burden in providing essential surgical care. His caseload encompasses the emergency abdominal conditions most common in West Africa—appendicitis, hernias, bowel obstruction, and perforated peptic ulcer—as well as trauma surgery for road traffic accidents and other injuries, which are a major cause of surgical admission in the increasingly motorised greater Banjul area. He manages soft tissue infections and tropical conditions requiring surgical intervention, including necrotising fasciitis. Dr. Sanneh is a Fellow of the College of Surgeons of East, Central and Southern Africa (FCS ECSA), the surgical qualification that underpins specialist surgical training across anglophone sub-Saharan Africa. He communicates in English, Mandinka, and Wolof, serving the diverse linguistic communities of greater Banjul.

Dr. Sanneh completed his MBChB at the University of Ghana Medical School in Accra, where many Gambian physicians have pursued their medical education given the limited capacity of the University of the Gambia. He undertook his specialist surgical training leading to the FCS (ECSA) qualification through the College of Surgeons of East, Central and Southern Africa programme, with surgical rotations at hospitals in Ghana and Nigeria, exposing him to the volume and variety of surgical cases required for specialist qualification. He returned to the Gambia and joined Serekunda General Hospital, where he has practiced for the majority of his career.

Dr. Sanneh performs appendicectomy, inguinal and abdominal wall hernia repair, bowel resection for obstruction and perforation, laparotomy for acute abdominal emergencies, and trauma surgery for penetrating and blunt abdominal and soft tissue injuries. He manages perforated peptic ulcer with patch repair and peritoneal lavage, performs colostomy when bowel continuity cannot be safely restored, and conducts wound debridement and management of complex soft tissue infections. He collaborates with RVTH when patients require investigations or specialist input beyond Serekunda General Hospital's capacity.

Dr. Sanneh has contributed to surgical audit data for studies on emergency abdominal surgery outcomes in the Gambia and has participated in workshops organised by the College of Surgeons of East, Central and Southern Africa on improving surgical safety in low-resource settings. He has engaged with the global surgery community through COSECSA training activities and contributes practical expertise to discussions on building surgical capacity in West Africa.

Dr. Sanneh provides emergency and elective surgical care for tourists and international visitors to the greater Banjul area who require surgical intervention during their stay in the Gambia. He is experienced in managing the surgical needs of European visitors and communicates clearly in English. Surgical consultation enquiries can be directed to Serekunda General Hospital's surgical department.

Dr. Sanneh holds the Fellowship of the College of Surgeons of East, Central and Southern Africa and is a member of the Gambia Medical and Dental Association. He is recognised nationally as an essential provider of surgical care in the greater Banjul area and by COSECSA for his commitment to practising in a severely under-resourced surgical environment.