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Two-year-old hole in heart patient gets support to undergo surgery

A two-year-old hole in heart patient, Solomon Obeng is scheduled to undergo surgery in coming days to enable him live a normal life.

This follows a recent donation of 6000 dollars by DDG Charitable Trust, an Indian nongovernmental organization, to enable doctors perform surgery on the young boy.

Master Obeng who hails from Cape Coast, is one of several hole in heart patients at the National Cardiothoracic Center of the Korle Teaching Hospital who lacked the needed funds to have surgeries and fear losing their lives.

According to Dr Kow Enstsua-Mensah a surgeon at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, young Obeng who was born with the condition, would be able to live a normal life after a successful surgery.

“Such donations would go a long way to save the lives of the several young people born with the condition and we are grateful to DDG for coming on board to support a child,” he stated.

A trustee of the DDG Charitable Trust, Neelesh Bhatia explained that, the move formed part of efforts to provide assistance to the needy in society and ultimately save lives.

He said, they had two years ago paid for the surgery of a child who is currently living a normal life and optimistic that young Obeng would also do same after the surgery.

“Aside supporting with health issues, we are also building extra classroom blocks and hygiene facilities for Memia, a community in the Western Region as well as providing boreholes for deprived communities,” he stated.

Director at the National Cardiothoracic Center of the Korle Teaching Hospital, Dr. Lawrence Sereboe, also expressed appreciation to the group for the support adding that, such donations go a long way to decrease the burden on the facility and also save the lives of young people.

He said, “there are many of such patients at the facility who need such surgery but do not have money and just hanging on, so we need more of such supports from groups and individuals.”

He said, surgeries cost between 6000 and 10,000 dollars and unfortunately they are not covered by the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) which most often, made it unbearable for patients.

He advised that, the NHIS should be structured in a way that it could be used for such complex situations with the right premium applied.

This he said, would go a long way to save the lives of several patients who a battling with the illness and lack the needed support to have surgeries.

BY MICHAEL D. ABAYATEYE

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