TOYOTA Assists Burns Centre

Takuya Kajiura handing over the equipment to Dr Opoku Ware Ampomah

Toyota Ghana Company Limited has donated six air conditioners and three flat screen TVs to the Korle-Bu Plastic Surgery and Reconstruction Centre.

The items which were donated to three burns wards of the centre are meant to make the wards more comfortable and conducive for patients recovering from burns and surgeries.

Takuya Kajiura, Managing Director of Toyota Ghana Company Limited, was hopeful the equipment would help raise the level of healthcare delivery for patients and also go a long way to better the lives and health status of Ghanaians in general.

“At Toyota Ghana, we are of the view that an adequate and well-resourced health facility makes possible an efficient health service delivery. That is why we established and maintained a good relationship with this hospital over the years. We also believe that giving continuous support is more beneficial than making a cone-off donation,” he said.

He, therefore, urged the staff and patients to take good care of the items so that they can serve the purpose for which they were purchased.

Dr Opoku Ware Ampomah, director of the centre, revealed that so many lives are lost through burns in Ghana due to lack of adherence to health and safety practices.

“More than 90 percent of burns are preventable if we are able to take precautions and 51 percent of the burns we see are in children. Therefore, for a child to get burnt, it means that some adults are responsible for it,” he said.

Dr Ampomah disclosed that because most burns are caused by domestic gas explosions and carelessness, parents must make sure that environments are always safe for children when they are around or when they are left to be on their own, emphasizing that children should be prevented from playing in the kitchen.

“There has been an increase in burns casualties because the whole of last year, we saw almost about 500 burns and this year we have already seen about 300. This year's casualties have also been more severe than last year's,” he pointed out.

He advised the general public to always keep their gas cylinders outside their kitchens and either stop using gas cylinders when they leak or use valves instead of stones to stop the leakage.

By Bridget Tenkoramaa Boateng & Jamila Akweley Okertchiri