The list of medical supplies and equipment urgently needed to enhance the recovery of last week’s fire victims is endless.
About 50 people are fighting for their lives in various hospitals in the capital after suffering burns from an explosion at a petrol station.
Official figures put the death toll from the twin floods and fire disaster on June 3, 2015 at 152.
Hours of torrential rains sunk large parts of Ghana’s capital. The Kwame Nkrumah Circle became the epicenter of the disaster.
An oil spillage in the flood waters caused fire and an explosion at the Goil Filling station near the GCB bank at Circle.
The fire consumed more than a hundred people – some of them burnt beyond recognition.
Those who survived the fire are currently receiving treatment primarily at the 37 Military, Korle-Bu Teaching and Police Hospitals.
But hospital authorities urgently need medical supplies and the list is a very tall one.
At the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, a new national reconstructive plastic surgery and burns centre which would have fast-tracked the treatment of the victims still has some key equipment not yet installed.
Items such as laundry machines, hydraulic bath trolley, shower head, blood gas analyzer, blood bank fridge, oxygen plant/source, special trolleys for transporting patients to the intensive care unit, ICU consumables, 3-way-tap, oxygen face mask, diathermy machine, extra stool in the theatre and a lift for the new building are lacking.
As a result of this, the victims at the KorlBu Teaching hospital are being attended to in a regular ward which doctors admit would delay their recovery.
But that is not the only problem, many other equipment and medical supplies are badly needed and authorities are hoping public-spirited organisations and individuals will donate generously towards the acquisition of these items.
It is hoped that companies and past students' associations will undertake to sponsor the various equipment.
LIST 1: – ITEMS FOR TREATMENT OF PATIENTS WITH BURNS 13 PATIENTS
B. Dressings per patient per week
5. Paracetamol suppositories lgm 6hourly for 14days