Six thousand children born in the country every year have congenital heart disease. One third of them will need urgent surgery within the first year due to the critical nature of their condition. With Ghana’s current population of 24 million and growth rate of 2.4 percent, the figure is expected to rise. The Director of the National Cardiothoracic Centre Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng revealed this at the launch of a programme aimed at raising awareness on the plight of children in the country with hole in heart in order to raise funds for their surgeries. The programme dubbed “Mending Hearts for Life: Improving access to cardiothoracic surgeries” is to solicit for renewed public support and re-ignite contributions to the Ghana Heart Foundation. This initiative is by the National Cardiothoracic Centre in collaboration with Plan Ghana and the Ministry of Health. Speaking at the launch, Professor Frimpong-Boateng said there are about 150 cases of children between 11 month to 17 years who need urgent financial assistance to undergo surgery in spite of the 50 percent support cost provided by the Ghana Heart Foundation to all patients. He noted that the number keeps increasing since there are two to eight referral cases of heart related diseases to the cardiothoracic centre every week from various health centers across the country. Prof. Frimpong-Boateng appealed to benevolent individuals organisation and corporate bodies to sponsor the surgery of some of the children in order to save their lives. Plan Ghana, a child centered community development organisation, donated sixteen thousand Euros to the Ghana Heart Foundation to assist them save the lives of the hole in heart children at the centre. They have already sponsored five children to undergo the heart surgery at the cardiothoracic centre in Korle. Country Director of Plan Ghana, Samuel Paulos urged organisations and corporate bodies to emulate their example. In a speech read on his behave, Health Minister Joseph Yieleh Chireh said the government has put mechanisms in place to provide sustainable funding for services provided at the Cardiothoracic Centre. He observed that the ministry has sponsored the training of personnel in the field of congenital heart surgery at the Walter Sisulu Paediatric Cardiac Centre in South Africa to strengthen the personnel at the centre. The Minister called on Ghanaians to assist the Ghana Heart Foundation to sustain and expand the support they provide for patients. Story by: Adwoa Gyasiwaa/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana