Korle Bu children's ward cries for help

Accra, July 6, GNA - Dr William Appeadu-Mensah, Resident Medical Officer at the Paediatric Surgical Ward of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, on Tuesday made an urgent appeal for facilities to efficiently run the place.

He said the ward, the only one south of the country where children on referrals for surgery can be taken care of, needs incubators, infusion pumps and other important facilities for intensive and post-operative care.

At a press briefing in Accra, Dr Appeadu-Mensah said the suction machines are not working and there are no blood pressure apparatus to take care of patients.

He called on public-spirited individuals, non-governmental organisations and charitable organisations to adopt the ward to ease the burden of the staff.

The press briefing was to throw light on conditions of the Siamese twins who were operated upon on May 19 and are due to be discharged this week.

Dr Appeadu-Mensah stated: "when the twins were brought in, there was only one incubator at the ward and another had to be borrowed from elsewhere to keep them in.

"This has made it impossible for other children to benefit from the use of the incubator since the Siamese had to be kept for a very long time."

Dr Winfred Hodasi, a Consultant Surgeon, who headed the team of doctors who successfully separated the twins, said the cost involved in the operation was around 20 million cedis but added that treatment was free of charge.

The twins, Linda and Lydia, were delivered in February, this year at the Atua Government Hospital in the Eastern region and were referred to the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital where they were separated eight weeks after their birth.

They shared a common liver, one diaphragm which divides the chest from the abdomen known in medical terms as omphalopagus. They had separate stomachs, kidneys and intestines.

Dr Hodasi said, due to the social problems they might encounter at home, the twins had to be kept at the hospital and are now being sent home at the age of three months "in very good health".

"There is no known cause for Siamese twins, he said, adding: "such operations have not been successful in this country though a few attempts have been made involving two such cases".

Dr Hodasi said the country can now handle such cases. "We have the expertise; what we need is the support and facilities to work with."

He said the twins would be monitored for a year though there are no foreseeable complications ahead as they can lead normal lives.

Mr Ebenezer Awui of Akosombo Textiles thanked the hospital staff without whom the children would have died.

Dr Henry Holdbrook-Smith, Chief Executive of the hospital, said the Ministry of Health is in the process of working out a fund to support such cases.