Zeal Technologies to help KATH purchase endoscopy
A maritime environmental waste company, Zeal Environmental Technologies Limited, is exploring the possibility of helping the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) to purchase an endoscopy tower to help treat children with throat problems.
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For a start, personnel of the Takoradi based company and the authorities of KATH, have held a meeting in Kumasi to explore the possibility for the company to buy the equipment for the hospital.
Background
Three months ago, the Daily Graphic broke the story of 50 children who needed surgery after drinking caustic soda, which consequently affected their throats.
The children, who cannot take in solid food but only liquid through a special bypass in their abdomen, have been experiencing pain, with their parents struggling to come to terms with the children’s predicament.
So far, only seven of the affected 50 children have been successfully operated upon, while the rest are on the waiting list.
Following their admission to the hospital, most of them were found malnourished and had to be properly fed before they could undergo surgery.
The company has been moved to act because of its fears that some of the remaining 43 children could die before they were operated upon.
The children, whose parents are in the soap making business, were alleged to have mistakenly drunk the colourless soda solution used in the manufacturing process because they thought it was water. The parents normally store the solution in water bottles which are placed in malfunctioning refrigerators.
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Some parents have abandoned their children at the hospital.
Donation
Touched by the predicament of the children, the CEO of the company, Mr Kweku Ennin, in the company of his wife, Beatrice, presented a cheque for GH¢50,000 as a top up to an earlier GH¢115,000 donated by N. N. EST Metal Company, to save the children. A substantial portion of the money will be used to feed the children to gain the needed weight before the operation can be performed.
And as an alternative to the operation, Dr Michael Amoah, a Pediatric Surgeon at KATH, said the best practice was to get the endoscopy tower to adequately assess the extent of damage and treatment.
Education
Beyond helping to acquire the equipment, Mr Ennin, who is also an evangelist with the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC), promised to champion an educational drive through churches on the causes of the menace.
It will cost between GH¢8,000 and GH¢10,000 for a patient to be treated at the health facility.