Moses Asaga (left), Dr Ampomah (right) and Gilbert Buckle (2nd right) breaking wall for the official commencement of the rehabilitation of the unit
The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) has given GH¢1 million to the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) for the refurbishment of the National Reconstructive Plastic Surgery and Burns Centre (NRPSBC) at the facility.
Speaking at a ceremony on Friday at the hospital in Accra to commence the facelift project, Director of NRPSBC, Dr O.W. Ampomah, lamented that the burns unit is in a deplorable state and, thus, the support from the NPA.
According to him, due to the deplorable nature of the centre, the female wall of NRPSBC caught fire a few days ago and nearly degenerated into a major disaster.
“I don’t want disaster under my control before people say patients who came to the burns centre have been burnt,” he said.
Dr O.W. Ampomah mentioned that the donated amount would be used to put in the necessary facilities so that people who come for treatments are given the best of services they deserve.
He said the donated amount would be used to rehabilitate the various walls, washrooms of the NRPSBC as well as replace the old ceilings and carry out rewiring of the electrical cables so as to enhance the delivery of information communication technology (ICT) services in the unit.
The refurbishment project, DAILY GUIDE gathered, is to take a period of three months, and NPA would play a supervisory role to ensure that it is successfully carried out.
When that is done, it would see the NRPSBC as one of the best centres of its kind in the West African sub-region, according to Dr Ampomah.
Statistics
Giving statistics about the number of patients who visit the hospital, he said last year, about 1,650 surgical operations were carried out at the unit.
He said the NRPSBC did a series of outreach programmes this year and succeeded in treating about 300 persons, saying the facility has about 13 well-trained surgeons.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NPA, Moses Asaga, in a short remark, observed that the NPA deemed it necessary to support the burns unit because most of the burns cases reported at the facility are petroleum-related.
Meanwhile, the CEO of Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Gilbert Buckle, has commended the NPA for the kind gesture and prayed other state institutions to emulate their example.
BY Melvin Tarlue