The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) has donated GH¢100,000 to the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) for the treatment of breast cancer patients at the National Radiotherapy Oncology and Nuclear Medicine Centre.
Chief Executive Officer of NPA Dr. Mustapha Abdul-Hamid who presented the cheque said the donation formed part of Authority’s Ladies Association activities to mark October as breast cancer awareness month.
He said the NPA at the initial stage of the awareness creation of break cancer invited experts from the National Radiotherapy Oncology and Nuclear Medicine Centre to educate its staff on breast and cervical cancer.
He added that the NPA held breast screening and organized health walks for its staff across the regions to commemorate the breast cancer awareness month.
The NPA Boss pledged the Authority’s support to provide additional financial support to assist the centre to provide quality healthcare to the needy patients of breast cancer.
Dr. Verna Vanderpuje, Deputy Director, Consultant Oncologist of the Centre commended the NPA for the gesture and said this was the first time the Centre was receiving such huge cash donation to support treatment of patients at the centre.
She said it would go a long way to support treatment of patients and appealed for additional funding, which according to her, was very critical to helping patients to fully complete their treatment procedures.
Dr. Vanderpuje said because of the expensive nature of cancer treatment, most patients often abandoned their session midway and reappeared in the Hospital only when their situations had deteriorated beyond any intervention.
This, she regretted, has often led to high mortality and appealed to private sector institutions and individuals to support the Centre to care for the growing number of needy patients.
