Plan-Netherlands To The Rescue Of 16 Children

A group photograph of some beneficiary children, Mr Samuel Paulos; Dr Lawrence Sereboe and others.

Plan-Netherlands, a child centred non-governmental organisation, has given a lifeline to 16 children who need urgent heart surgery at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra.

The children, aged between two and 16, are to benefit from a GH¢117,933 package which will enable them to have corrective heart surgeries.

The 16 are among 181 children who need urgent cardio surgeries at the Cardiothoracic Centre at Korle Bu.

The Country Director of Plan-Ghana, Mr Samuel Paulos, presented the dummy cheque for the amount on behalf of Plan-Netherlands at a ceremony at the Cardio Centre and said the organisation was touched by the plight of children who were struggling to live because they had problems with their health.

Recently, Plan-Ghana, together with the National Cardiothoracic Centre and the Ministry of Health, launched an appeal for funds for corporate and religious organisations to donate towards surgery for children with critical whole-in-heart conditions.

Plan-Ghana donated 16,000 euros as seed capital.
According to Mr Paulos, his organisation would continue to source for funding to help the children have their surgeries.

He commended the doctors and staff at the centre for the yeoman’s job that they were doing, saying that his organisation was encouraged by the warm reception that it always received and was, therefore, ready to partner the hospital to find a lasting solution to the needs of the over 100 children who needed surgeries.

A heart surgeon at the Cardio Centre, Dr Lawrence Sereboe, who received the cheque on behalf of the children, thanked the organisation for the interest that it had taken in the care of children with cardio problems.

He said since heart surgery was expensive, there was the need for benevolent organisations to support persons to undertake surgeries and called on corporate organisations to help save the lives of the dozens of children who needed support to live healthy and normal lives.