Police Officer donates TV to Trauma Unit at Tamale Teaching hospital

The Northern Regional Motor Traffic and Transport Division (MTTD) Commander, Chief Superintendent of Police, Mr Muchiraru Yahaya has presented a Television set to the Children's ward at the Trauma Unit of the Tamale Teaching hospital.

The 43 inches TV gift to the hospital was in response to an appeal made by Miss Maame Essi, a Radio Presenter working with Positive Media, owners of ABC and 123 Radio Stations on her Tamale Road Safety Project.

Presenting the gift, Mr Yahaya said road safety was dear to his heart and so attached high sense of seriousness to issues connected to road safety hence his quick response in contributing to the project.

He bemoaned the incidence of preventable accidents in the Metropolis, especially those involving motorbike hits against children.

He advised members of the public, especially road users including motorbike and tricycle riders, pedestrians, drivers and tractor operators to concentrate on the rightful and designated portions while using the roads and implored them to be extra careful to avoid accidents.

Dr Noel Tolgou Yempabe, Consultant Orthopaedic and Head of Trauma Surgery at the TTH who received the TV set on behalf of management of the ward expressed worry about the level of superstition and cultural beliefs victims and families associate with fractures and said it was the most unpleasant causal effect of most fracture cases that result in amputations on arrival at the hospital.

He further attributed bad conditions of fractures to the hospital, especially those involving children to late arrival of patients to the hospital as result of delays at centres of traditional bonesetters and financial constraints, and cautioned members of the public to consider visiting the hospital first in cases of fractures involving children.

He said an average of three accident cases involving children with fractures are received every week and added that management of fractured bones of children were different from those of adults and therefore it was critical that families sent children with such cases straight to the hospital for proper care.

He expressed worry about the behaviour of motorists on the roads and suggested to the Police Regional MTTD commander and the media in the Region to intensify public education on proper road usage. He further urged the police to prosecute careless road users to serve as a deterrent to potential ones.

Miss Maame Essi, originator of the Tamale Road Safety Project said she was influenced by the severity of the effects of road accidents on victims, their families and friends and the horrifying statistics presented by the Association of Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons at a training programme for journalists drawn from the Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions on how to report on Trauma and Orthopedic cases in the country.

Miss Essi appealed to Nongovernmental Organisations, individual philanthropists, charity organisations, the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly, Road Safety Institutions including the Ghana Road Safety Authority, MTTD, among others to support her bid to spread the education on road safety in the Metropolis and beyond.