Giving children prompt care is crucial

In the bid to provide good health care, it is crucial that patients have access to prompt care to save their lives and provide them with good quality life thereafter.

It is, therefore, heartening to hear that all children who have suffered various kinds of sexual or physical abuse do not need to visit the outpatients departments at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital but can virtually walk into the Child Protection Unit of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital for prompt and specialised care.

The unit, like the proverbial eagle which is known to fiercely protect its young, is primarily focused on saving abused children and, therefore, has organised training courses for selected doctors across the country, with support from UNICEF, to ensure that children who suffer from abuse can have professional care in their various localities.

Although all children are open to abuse, an overwhelming number of girls are often reported to suffer abuse, primarily because of their gender, making girls usually confront unique problems which could result in life-time consequences.

The trauma a child goes through from abuse is likely to live with him or her for many years if professional care and counselling services are not offered to assist him or her overcome the pain and emotional anguish.

Such professional care is also prime, since more often than not perpetrators of the crime plead with parents to conceal the abuse, or if parents themselves are the perpetrators, report the case to hospital many days after the act, thereby making it difficult to determine whether a sexual abuse has occurred.

Obviously, when abused children are attended to early, cases which require emergency treatment will swiftly be taken care of and the abusers will also be brought to book.

As we commend the Child Protection Unit of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital for providing specialised care for abused children in a prompt and professional manner, we call on all government agencies to assist in educating children to learn how to protect themselves from abuse, so that they will be safe from such trauma which could seriously affect their childhood and future development.