The Lebanese Community in Ghana yesterday donated medical equipment and consumables worth GH₵ 100,000 to the Paediatric Oncology Unit of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH), in Accra.
The items included a cardio respiratory monitor, four units of Pulse Oximeter finger tip, two units portable oxygen cylinders, five weighing scale for infants, three units scale with height, two sets of 32 inch television sets, and a 1.5 HP air conditioner among others.
At the short ceremony yesterday, Miss Madine Jaber, a representative of the Lebanese delegation, said the items were to support the hospital to deliver quality healthcare to the people.
She said, “We have been in the country for a long time so we feel we are part of you.”
Professor Lorna Awo Renner, the Head of the Oncology Unit of the hospital, who received the items on behalf of the Unit, said the gesture was timely as the unit was striving to deliver quality healthcare to the people.
Lauding the Lebanese community for the gesture, she called on corporate bodies and individuals to support the unit in its quest to deliver quality health care delivery.
Prof. Renner appealed to the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) to reconsider incorporating the diagnosis of child cancers onto the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
The inclusion, she explained would help early diagnosis and treatment of the disease, and improve the survival rate of many children, who die without being diagnosed, or through late diagnosis.
Prof. Renner said, “At least, the commonest childhood cancers like kidney cancers, eye cancers and leukaemia are manageable.”
She said that “we need to give our children a fair chance. A child cured of cancer has at least 60 years potentially of productive life for this nation so why deny them,” she stressed.
Prof. Renner called on government to train more health professionals in the treatment of cancer as well as establish more health facilities in the country, to bring healthcare closer to the people.
Present at the ceremony were the Chief Executive Officer of KBTH, Dr Daniel Asiedu, the Head of Child Health Unit of the hospital, Prof Ebenezer Badoe, senior doctors and members of the Lebanese Community.
Lebanese Pix/samba/ 24-04-2019
Caption; Mr Daniel Asiedu, Prof Badoe and some members of the Lebanese Community behind the items.
BY ALLIA NOSHIE
