AIR Liquide donates oxygen to 2 Accra hospitals
AIR Liquide Ghana, suppliers of industrial and medical gases, has donated 20 cylinders of medical oxygen worth GH¢24,000 to two health institutions in the Greater Accra Region, in support of the treatment of victims of the June 3, flood and fire disaster victims.
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The beneficiaries, the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) and the 37 Military Hospital, received 10 oxygen cylinders each.
Fifty-eight of the surviving victims are on admission — 36 at the 37 Military Hospital, 12 at the KBTH and 10 at the Police Hospital.
One hundred and fifty-two people have been documented to have lost their lives to the twin disasters.
Presenting the items, the General Manager of Air Liquide, Mr Ronan Guyader, said it was part of their corporate social responsibility to save lives, adding that management and staff of the company were deeply touched by the June 3 flood and fire disasters which resulted in the fatalities and injuries.
He noted that mony hospitals lacked adequate oxygen, which was essential for patients in the intensive care unit.
Mr Guyader expressed worry that sometimes the hospitals delayed in the refilling of the cylinders and this resulted in the death of patients.
He expressed the hope that the items would help with the efficient health delivery, not only to the fire victims, but also to all who were on admission at the hospitals and needed oxygen.
Gratitude
Receiving the items, the Commanding Officer of the 37 Military Hospital, Colonel Michael Yeboah-Agyapong, expressed gratitude to the company and added that there were five fire victims at the ICU of the hospital who were on oxygen.
He said the donation of oxygen would solve the challenge of oxygen shortage which the hospital faced, and called on other institutions and individuals to emulate the gesture.
For his part, the Senior Resident Doctor of the National Reconstructive Surgery and Burns Centre of the KBTH, Dr Kwesi Nsaful, commended the company for coming to contribute their widow’s mite to the hospital to help save lives.
Dr Nsaful gave an assurance that the staff would work extra harder to ensure that lives were saved, adding that the medical oxygen they had received would help save more lives.
“When people visit us to see how we work and donate items to us, it encourages us to work harder than we do,” he said.
Background
Flooding, resulting from torrential rains, brought Accra to its knees on Wednesday June 3, 2015, with unimaginable loss of lives and destruction of properties.
About 152 lost their lives in the fire and flood disaster.
Seventy-six of the victims were killed at a fuel station that exploded in to in the midst of the rains, while many others who suffered serious burns were taken to major hospitals in the city.
Many of the victims of the filling station inferno were among others who had sought shelter at the GOIL Fuel Station near the GCB Towers at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle to escape the flood waters spreading out from the overflowing Odaw River and uncovered drains.
Three days of national mourning was declared for the victims.