Burns survivor spearheads rehabilitation drive

Mr Dennis Opoku-Gyamfi, Founder of Ghana Burns survivors Foundation, is appealing for philanthropic and government support to aid the rehabilitation of burns survivors.

“Victims who survive fire accidents are forced to be consigned to permanent obscurity after sustaining embarrassing body scars and deformities and need to be sensitised to get reintegrated into society,” he said.

Under a project christened: “Life after Burns Campaign,” Mr Opoku-Gyamfi is asking for a mobile van, logistical support and funds for the provision of infrastructure to set up a rehabilitation camp.

Mr Opoku-Gyamfi, an accountant and a burns survivor who has been in support advocacy for his colleagues more than five years, told the Ghana News Agency that the aftermath of any terrible burns accident leaves victims with physical and psychological scars which do not go away.

The rehabilitation camp would shelter the victims for sensitisation to overcome the psychological trauma as their wounds heal gradually after they have been discharged from hospital.

This, he said would pave way for their re-entry into the society and in the case of children back to school.

Mr Opoku-Gyamfi said that most burns victims, obsessed with their awful looks and physical deformities, shy away from public life forever with even a good number of working adults not wanting to go back to work at all.

“Where are the sufferers of the Asokwa gas explosion and where are the recent fire disaster victims going from hospital with their yet unhealed peeled-off skins?” He asked rhetorically.

“The economic impact of this situation is huge and calls for such an arrangement in place to help burns survivors lead quality lives,” he said.

Mr Opoku-Gyamfi said most burns survivors cannot stand the gazing and taunts of members of the public and called on people to show sympathy as everybody is at risk adding: “Victims with their terrible looks were not born that way, it can happen to anybody at anytime.”

He launched an appeal to help fund the reconstructive plastic surgery of victims who cannot afford the high cost of operation.