Korle Bu commissions GNPC funded Burns Centre

The Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital on Wednesday commissioned the completed Burns ICU Complex of the National Reconstructive Plastic Surgery and Burns Centre.

Construction of the project, funded by the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), started in 2006 as an office block with Sterilization Unit, Conference Room, Out-Patient Unit and Offices.

Dr K.K. Sarpong CEO of the GNPC said from available statistics, it was obvious that there was a need to improve the worrying survival rate of 40% of burns patients.

“This critical and strategic facility being commissioned today, for which GNPC has invested 1.2 million dollars is expected to ensure about 90% survival rate of victims of burns.

“I can confirm that the board of directors of GNPC has also approved the purchase of specialized cameras costing nearly 900, 000 dollars for the oncology department of this hospital. This we hope to deliver in the coming year, 2019,” he said.

He added that “through these investments, we are helping to create a society of healthy people from whom GNPC will also satisfy its human capital needs. We can only hope that these facilities, once provided would be put to very good use and maintained properly.”

Dr Opoku Ware Ampomah, Director NRPSBC expressed deep gratitude to the Board and Management of the GNPC for their commitment, which ensured that they continued to support the project to its successful completion.

“I trust that they will continue to empower our dreams of providing world-class reconstructive surgery and burn care excellence by supporting the next phase of development of this facility such as the establishment of skin culture, tissue banking, tissue viability services, oxygen concentrator, and electronic medical records.

“We at the Centre are grateful to the Minister of Health and the team of consultants from the Capital Investment Management Unit for effectively supervising the project. We are also grateful to the members of the project management team who defied the odds to ensure the successful completion of the project,” he said.

He added “to our clients, we say, thank you for patiently bearing with us over the last two decades when some of you even had to whisper your complaints in the consulting room owing to lack of adequate privacy. With our five new consulting rooms, this will be a thing of the past. We are grateful to the Board Chairman, CEO, and sister departments of KBTH for their support and cooperation.”

Dr Ampomah noted that mass burn incidents are not uncommon in Ghana saying, “A significant cause of these mortalities has been the lack of an intensive care facility to support the critically ill, especially those with inhalation burns.”

“This Burns ICU Complex is indeed a game changer in the management of severe burn cases. ICU’s however, are heavily manpower and resource dependent. I am hopeful that the Minister of Health will support us with the deployment of additional health care manpower and resources to enable us to operate at full capacity.”

On how needy patients could benefit from the venture, he said “being mindful of the fact that many of our patients, especially children and young adults cannot afford the cost of treatment, we have set up a Burns and Reconstructive Surgery Foundation in order to support such needy patients. I entreat all of you to contribute generously to this fund.”