First Lady donates Phototherapy machine to Cape Coast Teaching Hospital

First Lady Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo on Wednesday donated a phototherapy machine to the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital to aid in saving the lives of children who are jaundiced at birth.

The donation was made possible through the Rebecca Foundation.

Phototherapy is the process of using visible light to treat severe jaundice in the neonatal period.

The equipment worth GHS 30,000 was to enable the Hospital to prevent children from dying due to lack of heat.

It would also serve as an incubator to provide a safe and stable environment for new-born infants, often those born prematurely or with an illness or disability that makes them vulnerable for the first several months of life.

The presentation of the equipment was also to fulfil a request by the Hospital to the First Lady, when she last visited the facility in October this year to commission Obstetrics and Gynaecology Block, and a 16 bed Mothers Hostel.

During the presentation ceremony in Accra, Mrs Akufo-Addo said during her visit to the Hospital, she was very much touched by efforts being made by the Hospital to save mothers and their babies from dying at birth.

She expressed the hope that the equipment would go a long way to assist the hospital to deal with many infant related illnesses for which phototherapy could remedy.

Mr Richard Agbeko Agbanyo, a Senior Clinical Technician, Equipment Unit, Cape Coast Teaching Hospital, who received the machine on behalf of the hospital, said it would help in reducing the number of deaths among children who needed heat to survive.

He thanked the First Lady for the gesture, saying the hospital had four of the machines but two were currently out of order, which had put a lot of stress on the other two.

Mr Agbanyo, therefore, said the First Lady’s gesture would greatly help ease the pressure on the two working machines, saying at least in a day, four newly born children needed to be put on a phototherapy machine.

The situation, he said, sometimes compels the hospital to put two babies in a machine meant for one, a practice which was not conducive for the survival of the infants.

In a related development, a Canadian-based philanthropist, Dr. George Boahen Ansong, who is also a dental practitioner with the Royal Dental Clinic, in Toronto, Canada, has donated assorted dental products to the Rebecca Foundation in Accra.

The products included boxes of tooth paste, dental aids, dental bibs and other dental accessories.

The products donated on behalf of Dr. Ansong by members of his family, led by Mr Dave Amankwa, were aimed at supporting the work of the First Lady.

According to Mr Amankwa, the donation was for onward presentation to mothers and their children with an aim to promoting good oral health care among them.

Mrs Akufo-Addo thanked the philanthropist for the kind gesture, saying it would help promote good oral health care among beneficiary mothers and the children.

She commended the management of Royale Dental Clinic “for not sitting on the fence to admire the good works of the Rebecca Foundation, but rather, jumping on board to assist promote a worthy cause”.

The First Lady urged other companies and individuals to emulate Royale Dental Clinic by contributing through the Rebecca Foundation to provide for the poor and vulnerable in society, especially mothers and children.