Parents of a five-year-old boy who accidentally consumed caustic soda at Ananekrom, a farming community in the Asante-Akim North District, have appealed for financial support for the boy to undergo a surgery.

Wakeem Asalewe drank the substance when he was two years old but now requires ¢60,000 to reconstruct his damaged food pipe.

For three years, the boy is unable to swallow both liquid and solid foods and is fed through a tube inserted into his stomach via the abdominal wall by doctors at the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH).

His parents are unable to raise the funds for the surgery and have appealed to public support and save the life of the child.

Asalewe is expected to undergo four surgeries to correct his narrowing oesophagus before he can eat.

Roland Welga-Miah, the District Director of Health Services, who brought the plight of little Wakeem to light, said ¢15,000 was needed for the first surgery.

He appealed to well-meaning Ghanaians and philanthropists to donate towards the treatment of the child to GCB-Agogo Branch Account Number: 6221130003359.

A medical report signed by Dr Michael Amoah, a Paediatric Surgeon at KATH indicated that the boy was diagnosed with corrosive oesophageal stricture, which rendered him incapable of swallowing food.

It said staged management had commenced but he required colonic bypass-replacing the strictured oesophagus with the colon.