Accra, Aug 8, GNA-Qatar Charity, an International Non-Governmental Charity Organization has launched a project to render an intervention for 35 needy children suffering from congenital heart Diseases.
The launch which took place at the University of Ghana Medical centre was to pave way for a continuous collaboration between the facility and Qatar Charity to help the needy in Ghana to secure treatment for Congenital heart diseases.
Board Certified Paediatric Cardiology consultant, Dr. Mohammed Tawfiq Numan, who led the Qatar medical team said the general objective of the collaboration was to sow the seed for more collaborative works between Qatar charity and the University of Ghana Medical centre.
“This is not a come and go, but come and establish and continue the collaboration as we are doing with everybody.” he noted.
It estimated that without such an intervention from Qatar Charity, each child going through a hole in heart condition or any related disease would have to settle an amount ranging between USD $2500 to USD$3000 for treatment.
The aim of the project is to intervene for at least 35 patients between three months and 17 years of age.
The Chief Executive officer of UGMC, Dr. Darius Osei, expressed gratitude to Qatar Charity and their UGMC partners to bring the project to that level of success and urged both parties to do their best to maintain the ongoing relations as it offered great opportunities for exchange of skills between the Doctors and nurses of Qatar charity and UGMC.
He said it was also a relief to needy children who were burdened with cost of treating these sophisticated conditions that would have end up impeding their growth and development.
Consultant Paediatric Cardiologist, Professor Nana-Akyaa Yao who is in charge of operation explained the operational plan of the project.
“We saw about 30 patient on Saturday and On Sunday we saw 10 patients. And out of the 30 and 10 we picked 28 and we are hoping to get a few more in. And out of the 30 and 10 we picked 28 and we are hoping to get a few more in.
“So once we selected them we admitted the first eight. Our plan is to do between
Seven and eight cases today. Today it might be a bit less because we are started a bit late. At the Moment eight are admitted on the ward. The first two case are down in the recovery area”.
She said the plan was to start with the bigger children because it was safer and the selected areas of treatment in the project included Atrial Septal Defect and Coarctation of the Aorta.
The Director of Qatar Charity Ghana Office, Mr. Hassan Owda, said the UGMC had the test facilities to start and the launch the programme to pave way for more initiatives and opening up for more children be given treatment under the programme.
He stressed the need for maintaining good relations between Qatar charity and the UGMC to bread the needed grounds for many collaborations in the future.
The Director of Medical Affairs, Dr Kwame Anim Boamah, reiterated that treatment of cardiac issues was capital intensive.
He lauded Qatar Charity for the initiative and welcomed the minimal invasion method that was to be used unlike the open heart surgery that took time for patients to recover.
On the types of conditions, he mentioned hole in heart, Atrial sectoral defect, Coarctation of the Aorta and other congenital heart defects and the entire duration for this operation was set to last for a week, with all 35 patients treated and discharged.
Also in attendance at the occasion was the Director of Pharmacy, Asumadu Amoateng, Director of Nursing and Midwifery, Mrs Judith Asiamah, Director, Medical Support service, Mr. Abraham Bediako and Director of client service and PR, Mrs Barbara Owusu Hemeng.
The CEO called on the Directors to offer their full support as they moved into the week to dive into operations.
GNA