KNUST medical students set to help children with anorectal malformations
The Medical Students Association (MSA) of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) has embarked on a project to raise funds to support children born with imperforate anus, termed medically as anorectal malformations.
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The project, dubbed: ‘Show care, let’s repair’, aims at raising funds to enable the children to go through surgery and also create awareness of the condition.
According to the Project Committee Chairperson, Ms Gifty Osei Akoto, the condition leads to the children’s inability to pass stool, resulting in an obstruction in their gastro-intestinal tract and eventually abdominal distention with electrolyte imbalance and, in the long run, death.
Appropriate medical care
“Most children affected by the condition do not receive appropriate medical care due to various reasons, including financial constraints, social stigma and spiritual connotations,” she noted.
Ms Osei Akoto emphasised that “there are doctors now capable of correcting these malformations”, explaining that three surgeries were required, depending on the severity of the anomaly, to correct each malformation.
She explained that the surgery involved creating an opening in the abdomen to allow the passage of stool (a colostomy), creating of an anal opening (posterior sagittal anorectoplasty) and closure of the colostomy.
“An amount of GH¢5,000 is needed for each child to undergo all three surgeries. Ironically, these malformations occur in newborns of parents who belong to the poor socio-economic class,” she stated.
She said the project aimed at raising funds to enable at least 30 children with the anomaly to go through surgery.
In addition, the association would create awareness of anorectal malformations and initiate research into the possible causes of the abnormally and what could be done to prevent it, she added.
Past projects
Ms Osei Akoto indicated that each year the KNUST MSA undertook a project with the aim of giving society its due through various means.
Various projects that have been undertaken in the past include ‘Save my smile’, which targeted cleft palate and lip repairs, reproductive health awareness, childhood malformations and lifestyle diseases.
Others focused on Burkitts Lymphoma, a curable cancer in children, and the most recent project on hydrocephalus sought to pay for the surgeries of needy children with hydrocephalus and eradicate the stigma that comes with the condition.
Furthermore, the association provided essential medical equipment for the effective running of the Paediatric Unit of the Manhyia Hospital and the Paediatric Surgery Department of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital and in 2015 a cervical cancer project mainly provided free medical screening for women above 35 years.
Ms Osei Akoto called for support towards raising funds for children with anorectal malformations, and indicated that contributions could be made to the account name: KNUST Medical Students Association, Account number: 0163014817316 CAL Bank – KNUST Branch.