Stanbic gives customer GH¢80,000 to treat hole-in-heart child

Stanbic Bank Ghana has donated GH¢80,000 to a customer who applied for a loan to treat her child who is suffering from a hole-in-heart disease.

The amount is to supplement the loan of GH¢30,000 the customer, Mrs Mariam Sulemana, applied for to seek urgent medical attention for her three-month-old baby, who urgently needs to undergo surgery to correct a defective heart.

Through engagement, a staff of the bank got to know that the amount applied for could barely cover 23 per cent of the cost of treatment, estimated at $27,000 (about GH¢152,958).

The staff quickly ran a campaign to raise GH¢40,000, with the bank adding GH¢40,000 to the amount to support the treatment.   

The child

The child was born with a critical heart disease and needed to undergo two procedures to save him.

The first stage of the procedure entails creating a channel in one of the internal walls of the heart to improve oxygenation.

The other procedure is the open-heart operation, which actually switches the blood vessels to what they ought to be. Both procedures will be performed outside the country.

Customers welfare

The Managing Director of Stanbic Bank, Mr Alhassan Andani, expressed delight that the staff went great lengths to support their customers.

He said the bank, aside from its core business, also played several roles in the life of its customers by ensuring their welfare and promoting their interest.

Mr Andani expressed optimism that the donation would serve its intended purpose by helping to save the child, adding that they would continue to engage the mother to enable them to provide any extra help.

“Saving this child is very crucial to us because we don’t know the destiny he holds, it could be possible that he may become the Managing Director of Stanbic Bank or even far better. We will put in our efforts to ensure that he is saved,” Mr Andani stated.

He also appealed to other philanthropists and corporate organisations to support the mother to enable the child to undergo the full operation.

Gratitude

Mrs Sulemana, who could not control her tears, expressed profound gratitude to the bank and the staff for their support, saying she least expected that the bank could go that extra mile to raise such an amount to support her child.

“All hopes were lost, I thought I was going to lose my child, I didn’t know where I was going to get such an amount of money from. I can’t thank Stanbic Bank enough for what they’ve done for me, I am most grateful,” Mrs Sulemana, who is a nurse, said.