The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) is sponsoring the treatment of breast cancer patients at the National Radiotherapy Oncology and Nuclear Medicine Centre of Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital.
The Authority has donated GH¢100,000 to the premier referral health facility.
Presenting the cheque, Dr. Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, Chief Executive Officer of NPA said the donation formed part of NPA Ladies Association activities to mark October as breast cancer awareness month.
Explaining the rationale behind the charity work, he said the Authority at the initial stage of the awareness creation of breast cancer invited experts from the National Radiotherapy Oncology and Nuclear Medicine Centre to educate its staff on breast and cervical cancer when the Authority held breast screening and organized health walks for its staff across the regions to commemorate the breast cancer awareness month.
He recalled that it was during the program that NPA pledged the Authority’s support to provide additional financial support to assist the centre to provide quality healthcare to the needy patients of breast cancer hence the presentation.
Receiving the cheque, Dr. Verna Vanderpuje, Deputy Director, Consultant Oncologist of the Centre commended the NPA for the gesture and said this was the first time the Centre was receiving such huge cash donation to support treatment of patients at the centre.
She said it would go a long way to support treatment of patients and appealed for additional funding, which according to her, was very critical to helping patients to fully complete their treatment procedures.
Dr. Vanderpuje said because of the expensive nature of cancer treatment, most patients often abandoned their session midway and reappeared in the Hospital only when their situations had deteriorated beyond any intervention.
That often led to high mortality, she said, and appealed to private sector institutions and individuals to support the Centre to care for the growing number of needy patients.
By Vincent Kubi