The timely intervention of the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Afram Plains North constituency, Betty Nana Afua Krosbi Mensah has saved the life of five year old boy, Callen Apema suffering from a hole-in-heart condition.
The MP donated Ghc 10,000 of the total cost of surgery which estimated at Ghc 15,000 ($2500) whiles a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Child Heart Foundation contributed the remaining Ghc 5,000 for a successful operation by a team of Doctors the at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital on little Callen.
Little Callen was diagnosed with a hole-in-heart disease in February this year at the Korle-Bu Teaching hospital but her parents could not afford the cost of surgery and had to return to their home community of Fassobator in the Afram Plains North constituency.
The plight of the little child came to the attention of the MP, Betty Krosbi Mensah during one of her usual community visitations leading to her immediate intervention to save the little boy who had become pale, inactive, malnourished with red eye and swollen fingers.
According to the MP, she was triggered by her motherly love to order for the child to be taken back to the Korle-Bu Teaching hospital for prompt medical attention even as she organise funds for the cost of surgery.
The MP visited the child at the hospital last Wednesday and expressed gratitude to the medical team at the Cardiothoracic Centre who performed the surgery (phase I) and delight to see the child hale and hearty after the exercise.
Grandmother of little Callen, Mary Padi on behalf of the family was full of gratitude to the Member of Parliament for her show of urgency, motherly love and humanness.
She was equally thankful to the medical team and all well-wishers for their professionalism, care and the love extended to them.
Director of the Cardiothoracic Centre, Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Dr Lawrence Agyeman Sereboe commended the MP for promptly coming to the aid of the little child who he indicated had suffered stroke.
The hole-in-heart disease he noted rendered little Callen pale, swollen fingers, red eyed and malnourished since could not eat properly.
He stated that the first stage of surgery had ensured that more blood is now diverted from other parts of the body to the lungs.
Dr Sereboe who is a cardiothoracic surgeon disclosed that little Callen will have to undergo a second and a final phase of surgery at a higher cost within one and a half to two years’ time to make him more healthier and grow functionally.
The cost of heart surgery according him is expensive and urged corporate institutions, philanthropists and the general public to extend support to the Cardiothoracic Centre to aid people suffering from heart ailments.