On average, 7,000 children are born with hole-in-heart conditions in Ghana every year.
Two-year-old Blessing Ama Woode Kwamba from Obuasi, diagnosed with a hole-in-heart, lived with the condition all her life, needing $7,000 to correct the defect.
Blessing, along with three others with delicate medical complications, have been provided financial assistance from the ‘Fifty-50 Club’ for surgical procedures.
Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD), also known as ‘hole-in-heart’ refers to inborn heart defects which involve abnormal openings in the walls (septum) that separate the heart's chambers.
The cost of treating this defect ranges between $6,000 and $13,000 leaving patients from underprivileged families at the benevolence of individuals and entities to fund their treatment and general healthcare.
Young Blessing Ama Woode Kwamba was diagnosed with the defect at the age of two and needed $7,000 to undergo a surgical procedure at the National Cardiothoracic Center, Korle-bu Teaching Hospital.
The ‘Fifty 50 Club’ has donated a sum of GHc10,000 to the 2-year-old Hole-in-heart patient.
Nine-year-old Federica Owusu Yeboah, also diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma cancer received GHc 3,500 to cater for the cost of the CT scan, while 6-year-old Frederick Agyeman Duah with a sickle cell disorder had GHc 1,000 support.
A donation of GHc 10,000 was made to 42-year-old James Danquah, diagnosed with an acquired heart disease, Severe Mitral Valve Regurgitation.
President of Fifty 50 Club, Jacob Edmund-Acquah, explained the urgency of their situations informed the gesture.
“We get referrals from the doctors who are members of the club. Our own members also help us bring people. The seriousness of their issues prompts us to provide support. I hope there will be some form of a national program because I don't think we are there. We just started about three years ago yet overwhelmed with applications from people seeking help to undergo their surgeries. We can't help everybody because we have limited resources,” he said.
Dr. Kwadwo Anim, the Executive Director of AGA Health Foundation, said a swift intervention will prevent further complications.
“You would realize that the socioeconomic background of these families makes it very difficult for them to achieve this level of treatment in a short time. So some of them have grown with a condition and they have to keep asking for alms to be able to survive. So I consider the club’s step a laudable one for making an impact in the lives of these people. Otherwise in Ghana, it would have gotten worse,” he said
Gladys Adu, the mother of Blessing Ama Woode Kwamba, showed appreciation to the club for coming to the aid of her daughter.
Latest Stories
-
If I speak there will be fire – Salah on Klopp row
32 mins -
Grieving after divorce is normal, but this particular kind of grief isn’t
37 mins -
10 beautifully unexpected ways husbands proposed to their wives
40 mins -
Reality zone with Vicky Wireko: Painting Ghana purple: Be aware, May is month of mental health awareness
45 mins -
Prof Opoku-Agyemang’s integrity is admirable – Inusah Fuseini
59 mins -
Your reign has been a beacon of wisdom – Alan Kyerematen tells Asantehene
60 mins -
Akufo-Addo’s driver wins La Dadekotopon NPP primary
1 hour -
Education Minister must channel resources to rebrand basic public schools into tackling critical needs – Minority
1 hour -
CAFCC: “Dreams need to score early to unsettle Zamalek” – Former Zamalek striker Felix Aboagye
3 hours -
GHS launches mobile app to counter misinformation about vaccines
3 hours -
Election 2024: Care Ghana warns EC of recruiting political actors as Returning Officers
3 hours -
Mohammed Kudus gets 5th Premier League assist as West Ham hold Liverpool
3 hours -
Religious support source of my success – Asantehene
3 hours -
Sierra Leone energy minister resigns over electricity crisis, as power returns to capital
3 hours -
EC accuses Bright Simons, IMANI Africa of peddling falsehood
4 hours