Junior Resident (left) receiving item from Rev. Doe
Members of the North Kaneshie Assemblies of God Church have appealed to the government to subsidise the cost of treatment for children with cancer through the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
According to the church, this will reduce the hospital bills especially for the poor and check the delay in seeking early treatment as well as stem the tendency to send sick children to spiritualists.
“Parents are psychologically challenged because most of them do not have the funds to sponsor such treatments,” Dr. John Ahenkorah who heads the Anatomy Department of the University of Ghana’s Medical School said and called for public support to families and children with cancers.
He made the appeal when the North Kaneshie Assemblies of God Church members presented items worth GH¢10,000 to the Paediatric Oncology ward of the Child Health Department of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.
The donation formed part of the activities of the church to mark the Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.
Junior Resident at the department, Dr. Maxwell Tindana said the unit needed more beds and space to accommodate the increasing number of patients who come to the facility for treatment.
He expressed worry over the increasing cases of childhood cancer noting, “If not for me working in this unit, I never knew the ailment is very common in children. Until now, we thought cancer was a disease of the elderly.”
He asked parents not to hesitate in taking their children to health facilities when they detect signs or symptoms of cancers since early diagnosis could help fight the disease.
A senior pastor of the church, Reverend Anthony Doe, encouraged Christians not to relent on their support to the needy in society.
The Child Health Department was established in 1964 as a tertiary referral centre for children less than 13 years with medical and surgical problems, while the Paediatric Oncology Ward is known to admit between 180 to 200 new childhood cancer cases annually.
By Issah Mohammed