The North American branch of the Ghana Physicians and Surgeons Foundation has donated medical equipment worth $25,000 to the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons (GCPS).
The equipment included Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) used to restore the heart’s rhythm when it stops, pocket resuscitation masks and mannequins for training doctors in life-saving resuscitation techniques.
The presentation is meant to strengthen Ghana’s health emergency response.
The equipment will be distributed to the GCPS’ health training facilities, including the Greater Accra Regional Hospital (Ridge Hospital), the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital and the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH).
They will also be used for specialist training and learning at the GCPS.
The immediate past President of the foundation, Dr Francisca Abanyic, yesterday presented the equipment to the President of the GCPS, Prof. Samuel Debrah, and the Rector of the College, Prof. Richard M. K. Adanu, in Accra.
Cardiac arrest
Providing reasons for the presentation, Dr Abanyic said sudden cardiac arrest remained one of the leading causes of preventable deaths worldwide, yet survival rates could double or even triple when resuscitation and incubation were done properly.
“So the equipment we are handing over today will enable physicians, trainees and healthcare teams across Ghana to respond swiftly and effectively when faced with those critical moments that define life and death.
“But even beyond that, this donation is about readiness; it's about training the next generation of Ghanaian doctors and health professionals not only to heal, but to lead. To be first responders, advocates, and lifesavers at every second,” she said.
Touching on the collaboration between the foundation and the college, Dr Abanyic said the foundation had, over the years, made donations in various ways, mostly in services through partnering and helping to train the postgraduate residents and fellows of the college.
She said the two had co-hosted enriching webinars focused on research collaboration, healthcare entrepreneurship and postgraduate training, where residents could train in collaboration with other students.
Additionally, Dr Abanyic said each year the foundation offered support to one or two Ghana-based resident doctors to come to the United States to participate in a clinical and research programme at one of the prestigious institutions there.
“We at GPSF are proud to continue the partnership with the college. Together, we can create a system where every physician trained in Ghana is confident and competent in life, and where every patient, no matter where they are, has a future,” Dr Abanyic added.
Gratitude
Prof. Debrah, for his part, expressed gratitude to the foundation for the equipment, adding that it would help greatly in the training of specialists.
Prof. Adanu also explained that while the AEDs would be given to their health training facilities, the equipment for basic life support would be used by the college.
He recalled the training and other services members of the foundation offered residents at the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital as one of the major benefits of the collaboration.
The Deputy Medical Director of KATH, Dr Yaw Opare Larbi, and the Director in charge of Special Duties at the Ghana Health Service, Dr Abdulai Abukari, took turns to thank the foundation for the donation.
Started in 2002, the foundation has been set up to support the GCPS with postgraduate training of residents.
The members are Ghanaian physicians, dentists, surgeons, nurses and other healthcare workers resident in the US and Canada.
