Samsung donates $25,000 in response to Graphic story

Isaac Yeboah Sep - 25 - 2013 , 12:45

Mr. Baah-Adade, Head of Finance at GCGL, Mr. Kenneth Ashigbey, MD of GCGL receiving the cheque for $25,000 from Samsung Business Leader, Mr Jaspreet Singh and his team from Samsung at a brief presentation ceremony.Mr. Samsung Electronics Ghana has donated a cheque for $25,000 (GH¢50,000) to the Ghana Heart Foundation through the Graphic Communications Group Ltd (GCGL) in response to a Daily Graphic story on the plight of heart patients unable to foot the required bills to undergo surgery.

The donation is towards the treatment of the patients on the waiting list of the National Cardiothoracic Centre at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Accra.

“Three hundred and eighty heart patients who are in need of financial assistance are currently on the waiting list of the National Cardiothoracic Centre (NCC) at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital to undergo surgery,” the Daily Graphic had said in its September 18, 2013 edition.

The Business Leader at Samsung Ghana, Mr Jaspreet Singh, presented the cheque to the Managing Director of GCGL, Mr Kenneth Ashigbey for onward presentation to the hospital.

The Samsung Business Leader said his company always wanted to improve the livelihoods of the people in the communities where they operated, adding that the company saw the plight of the heart patients as needing urgent attention.

“Knowing that so many people lacked the financial support to undergo such a crucial surgery, Samsung Ghana decided to give back to our cherished citizens, especially the children who are on the waiting list,” said Mr Jaspreet.

According to the Daily Graphic, the cost of heart surgery is between GH10,000 and GH12,000, half of which is borne by the National Cardiothoracic Centre. This means the donation by Samsung can take care of about 10 patients.

Mr Ashigbey made an initial donation of GH¢10,000 on behalf of Graphic as seed money for the fundraising which the GCGL is undertaking to support the Heart Foundation.

He thanked Samsung for responding to the Daily Graphic story and appealed to individuals and organisations to donate through the Graphic Needy Trust Fund to save the heart patients.

“I know we will feel guilty if we look on while they waste away, because they would have died not because of lack of medical expertise to save them, they would have died because we looked on; because each one of us felt it was somebody else’s responsibility to save them; because we felt they owed themselves the responsibility to save themselves,” he said.

Emmanuel Agyei Arthur
Graphic.com.gh/Ghana