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A 4-year old girl living on oxygen needs help
A four-year-old girl who lives with her parents at Aboabo, a suburb of Koforidua is unable to attend school and would have to live on oxygen for the rest of her life as a result of chronic lung cancer.
Elita Afia Boafo Asare Junior who is second of a set of twins has been diagnosed with Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia (BPD), a chronic lung disease, which makes it difficult for her to breathe .
Born a preterm, at 33 weeks together with her twin sister Elisa, who is healthy and well, Elita developed a respiratory distress syndrome commonly associated with children born preterm.
After spending several days with her mother at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), she was well and discharged but found her way back to the hospital at age four due to a new diagnosis.
Speaking to “The Spectator” on Elita’s case, Dr Afua Gyamfi, Director of Paediatrics at the Children’s Hospital at the Koforidua Central Hospital said that Elita’s situation was common with children born preterm, adding that some had respiratory problems shortly after birth.
She explained that the child’s poor lung capacity and less space made it difficult for her to breathe well.
According to her, there was no treatment to cure this ailment except to focus on treatment meant to support breathing and that only oxygen could help such people grow and thrive.
‘Elita has a lung disease and the only way to help is to have a lung transplant but the question is whether her parents can afford it?” asked, adding that, for now she had to live on oxygen.
The doctor indicated that Elita may live on oxygen for a long time either, for life or may recover at a certain point.
Dr Gyamfi explained that after several counselling of her mother and interactions between her and the hospital, both parties decided that the little girl should be given a paliative care at home to prevent incurring high hospital bills and other inconveniences of the family.
She revealed that after offering them with two oxygen cylinders and making arrangements for refilling , Elita and mother were discharged to continue caring for her at home whilst the public health care team would also visit to ensure her wellbeing.
Dr Gyamfi suggested that her parents can acquire an oxygen concentrator which cost about Ghc7,000 for her to supplement their buying of oxygen to reduce cost.
However, she stated that the oxygen concentrator may also attract constant electricity charges.
According to her parents, Mr and Mrs Asare, Elita uses a cylinder of oxygen at the cost of Ghc46 daily .
Her mother Madam Mary Danquah Asare explained the financial burden was becoming unbearable as they would not be able to afford buying the oxygen all the time to keep their daughter alive.
“I feel so sorry for my little girl that she has to live on this till God knows when. She has grown lean and malnourished but I have faith that she will be well again if we get help to provide oxygen for her all the time.”
She told The Spectator that carrying the cylinder alongside her child around attracted huge cost and appealed to philanthropists, institutions and corporate bodies as well as individuals to come to their aid.
“As a hairdresser, I have now closed my shop and cannot work because of my daughter’s situation. I have to be with her all the time, leaving all the burden on my husband who is a photographer,” she lamented.
Elita’s father, Mr Foster Asare said as a photographer, he had been using all of his earnings on buying oxygen for the little girl, adding that the situation was challenging.
“I am pleading with the public, government, individuals and philanthropists to come to my aid because my strength is failing me but I pray she gets help and becomes healthy like her other twin sister”
From Ama Tekyiwaa Ampadu Agyeman, Koforidua
The Member of Parliament for Nsawam Adoagyiri, Frank Annoh Dompreh, has expressed concern over delays in the release of the District Assemblies Common Fund, warning that the situation is stalling development across the country.
On his facebook page, he described as a matter of urgent national importance, the Minority Chief Whip pointed to what he sees as a growing crisis of unpaid contractors, abandoned projects, and halted infrastructure works in many districts.
He noted that several communities are grappling with half completed schools, unfinished health facilities, abandoned markets, deteriorating roads, and stalled sanitation projects.
According to him, many contractors who have executed projects for district assemblies have not been paid, forcing some construction firms to demobilise from sites while workers lose their jobs.
He stressed that the District Assemblies Common Fund is not a discretionary allocation but a constitutional requirement under Article 252 of the 1992 Constitution, intended to support development at the local level.
In his view, years of delayed releases and accumulated arrears have weakened district development financing and disrupted projects meant to improve living conditions in communities.
He further argued that some payments made in recent years were largely the settlement of old debts rather than funding for new or ongoing projects, a situation he believes has affected contractor confidence and local economic activity.
He described the issue as more than a budgetary challenge, characterising it as a development emergency and a governance concern.
He therefore urged the appropriate authorities to pay outstanding DACF arrears, settle contractors who have completed their work, and ensure that transfers to districts are automatic and predictable.
He maintained that decentralisation can only succeed when district assemblies receive adequate and timely funding to carry out development projects.
He emphasised that stalled projects directly affect ordinary citizens, since they rely on such infrastructure for education, healthcare, transportation, sanitation, and economic activities.
He called for renewed attention to grassroots development, insisting that national progress should not be concentrated only in major cities but extended to all communities.
By: Jacob Aggrey
Richard Appiah, the footballer who killed two children and stored part of their bodies in a fridge at Abesim in the Bono Region in 2021 has been handed a lifetime sentence.
This was after a five member panel of judges at the Accra High Court returned a verdict of guilty against the convict.
Appiah, 32, also a draughtsman would spend the rest of his life in prison after he was convicted of murder.
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BY MALIK SULLEMANA
