GCB donates towards Ophthalmology Centre at Korle-bu

Accra, July 29, GNA - Ghana Commercial Bank on Friday presented a cheque for 50,000 dollars (GH¢75,750) to the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital towards the establishment of an ultra modern Eye Centre to serve the sub-region.

The facility would also enable specialists from across West Africa to be trained in safe and high volume surgery to help eliminate cataract blindness and to deliver sight saving treatments for people with glaucoma and trachoma, in addition to many other eye diseases. This makes the bank the first of 10 corporate bodies expected to donate 50,000 dollars each towards the project while Lion's international and Moorfields Eye Centre in the UK would provide 3.5 million pounds towards the project.

The Bank also presented a cheque for GH¢12,784.99 to the Ridge Hospital for the purchase of an electrotherapy machine (a pain relief machine) for the hospital.

Mr Nana Duncan, Public Relations Manager of GCB, said the Bank was committed to providing quality health delivery to Ghanaians and the West African sub-region. He said Korle-Bu was chosen because it was the premier teaching Hospital affiliated to the Medical School with three centres of excellence within it.

The Ridge Hospital, he said, was chosen not just because of its strategic location, but for the fact that it handled serious health and medical cases. GCB has over the years been a partner and major donor to the Ghana Heart Foundation.

Professor Nii Otu Nartey, Chief Executive Officer of Korle-bu Hospital, said health was very expensive and should not be free. He said government had made special effort to equip the hospital and expressed his gratitude for the Ophthalmology Centre, which would be the fourth centre of excellence in at the hospital. The other three centres are the National Cardiothoracic Centre, the Reconstructive Plastic Surgery and Burns Department and the National Centre for Radiotherapy and Nuclear Centre. Prof Nartey said about 2.6 million people across the West African sub-Region were blind, while a similar number of people were under the threat of becoming blind, and noted that the establishment of the Centre could help to curb the menace in the coming years. He said the hospital, which would also serve as an eye research centre, had the potential of equipping specialists to come out with findings that would eliminate some diseases in the next few decades. Dr Stephen Akafo, Head of Eye Department of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, called on corporate organisations to as part of their social responsibility, donate generously towards the sustenance of the hospital.

Mr Gaetan C. Adangabey, Head of Physiotherapy Department at the Ridge Hospital, also expressed appreciation for the equipment, which would bring relief to patients. 29 July 11