The 1995 year group of the Wesley Girls High School has donated a pediatric hemodialysis machine to the Children’s Department of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, on Saturday April 3, 2021.
A dialysis machine is used to filter a patient’s blood to remove excess water and waste products when the kidneys are damaged, dysfunctional, or missing. The process involves removing waste substances and fluid from the blood that are normally eliminated by the kidneys.
Dialysis may also be used for individuals who have been exposed to or ingested toxic substances to prevent renal failure from occurring.
Over the years, the Children’s Department of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital had been challenged in its care of kidney patients as it lacked a hemodialysis machine.
Painting a picture of the situation at the department, the Head of Pediatric Nephrology Unit at the KBTH, Dr. Victoria May Adabayeri said: “We don’t have a dedicated pediatric dialysis machine here. We share a pediatric dialysis machine with adults who are about 200 miles away just because of how convenient it is but they are in the medical block. We do have emergencies that come to the emergency room or the emergencies develop on the wall and they need to use the dialysis or the hemodialysis machine and it can sometimes be a nightmare to send them all the way there.”
The president of the 1995 year group, Akua Owusua Donnir, presenting the machine on behalf of the association said: “As part of our 1995 year group’s silver jubilee celebration, we identified a gap in the healthcare system of Ghana, especially when one of our own became a specialist in the pediatric renal unit. We identified that in Ghana, we have pediatric hemodialysis machines but there is none solely dedicated to the care of children. So as we celebrate our silver jubilee and the fact that we’ve all been guided and molded by society, we felt the need to give back to society, hence our decision to purchase a pediatric hemodialysis machine, which is the first of its kind in Ghana to serve the purpose of helping children who suffer renal failure.”
“This gesture is to contribute our widow’s mite to the development of Ghana and also, most importantly, if we look at the faces of these ailing children, to give them comfort that they can be well when they are affected with renal problems,” she added.
Appreciating the gesture, the Head of the Pediatric Nephrology Unit at the KBTH, Dr. Victoria May Adabayeri said
“It just a miracle that we have our own machine which will be in our intensive care unit which is the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. It will be accessible to the children who need it either from the emergency room or the ward. It is a dream come true for all of us and I am so excited that I have my head of Department and the CEO here to support us to put it into use. So it’s going to fill a very big void; we cannot say thank you enough to the 1995 Wesley Girls Association. Thank you very much and we are so appreciative of your gift”.
The Chief Executive Officer of the KBTH, Dr. Opoku Ware Ampomah, who was present during the presentation, also expressed gratitude at the gesture of the 1995 year group.
“On behalf of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital and particularly the Child Health department, I would like to express our profound gratitude to the 1995 year group of Wesley Girls High School and the old girls group for this wonderful gesture. When children suffer some of these conditions, it almost becomes a death sentence and sometimes for many of the children, it is not their fault that they are born into poor families. The quality of society is measured in the lives of our children. So if you have a good society, then we should see it reflecting in how we take care of the children, especially those who are vulnerable. It is in this light that I am very appreciative of your gesture.”
