The Child Health Department of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra needs Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Computed Tomography (CT) scan machine at its Paediatric Oncology Unit (POU) where childhood cancers are treated.
These machines are used to capture images within the body to aid clinical analysis and treatment and in the case of the unit, help healthcare delivery to children as young as a day old who are suffering various types of cancers including that of the eye and blood.
However, due to the unavailability of these two equipment at the unit, children who need to undergo such procedures are taken to the hospital's scan centre that attends to many cases daily, or to private facilities outside the hospital.
Ms Eunice Owusu , a senior nursing officer at the unit made the appeal when members of the North Kaneshie Assemblies of God visited the facility on Saturday to donate GH¢6,000 in cash and items, including groceries and four sanitiser dispensers worth the same amount.
The gesture was part of activities to herald the church's annual programme dubbed "Gathering of God's Champions (GOGC)" scheduled for September 1 to 8.
The hospital's child health department established in 1964 is a tertiary referral centre for children under 13 years with medical and surgical problems.
The Paediatric Oncology ward admits 160 to 180 new childhood cancer cases annually aside those who go for outpatient chemotherapy and follow up from within the country and sub region.
According to Ms Owusu, the unit needed beds and more space to accommodate the increasing number of patients, adding that as of the time of the visit, the unit, with 22 bed capacity, had 26 patients on admission.
She said financial support was also needed as some patients could not afford the cost involved in cancer treatment, stating that some medical procedures cost about GH¢2,000.
She advised parents to report swiftly to the hospital if they detected abnormalities on their children for timely intervention instead of "waiting till the condition gets worse"
Ms Owusu thanked the church for gesture which she said would "help in a lot of ways as most children here are poor and would really need this kind of support ".
Rev. Isaac Amidini, associate pastor of the church and pastor in charge of the GOGC programme said the gesture hinged on the church's belief of supporting those in need and showing them love as Jesus Christ did.
He said the unit was chosen based on information about the financial challenges parents encountered in the pursuit of financial care for their children therein.
"At least the cash can be used to settle the medical bills of some of the children here. It is sad to see the troubles the children are going through," he said and urged philanthropists and churches to go to the aid of the unit.
Rev. Michael Nyarko Ampofo, senior associate pastor of the church, on behalf of the head pastor, Rev. Anthony Doeh, noted that Christianity was not limited to sharing of God's word but showing love to the needy.
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