The Paediatric Society of Ghana (PSG) last Friday honoured ace broadcaster and Chief Executive Officer of Kokrokoo Charities Foundation, Kwami Sefa Kayi, in recognition of his significant contribution towards child health particularly newborns across the country.
Along with eight other recipients, the citation presented by the Paediatric Society of Ghana (PSG) particularly lauded the “Project 100 incubators” initiative of the Kokrokoo Foundation which seeks to equip under-resourced health facilities nationwide with incubators for quality pre-term care.
As part of activities to climax the PSG Annual General Scientific Meeting (AGSM) on the theme; “Universal Health Coverage; Bridging gaps and building resilience in child healthcare delivery across Ghana”, the Society described the initiative as a life-saving intervention to give pre-term babies an improved chance at life.
“Your dedication and unwavering commitment to advancing child healthcare in Ghana through the Kokrokoo Charities Foundation and your visionary leadership in launching “Project 100” has significantly improved and strengthened neonatal care in Ghana, providing life-saving incubators and essential medical support to hospitals across the country, giving pre-term babies an improved fighting chance to survival.
This has left an indelible mark on countless families and communities and with profound appreciation and heartfelt gratitude, we celebrate your remarkable impact and honour your steady efforts in shaping a healthier future for Ghana’s children,” the citation read.
In his acceptance remarks, Mr Kayi who is also host of Peace FM’s morning show, “Kokrokoo”, expressed appreciation to some members of the society whose guidance had led to a successful implementation of the project so far.
He singled out co-founder and President of the Accra College of Medicine, Dr Afua Hesse, whose valuable expertise, he noted, had supported the project to its current state.
Updating audience on progress of “Project 100”, Mr Kayi disclosed that 62 incubators have so far been donated by his foundation since it was established in 2014 and looked forward to reaching the 100th incubator in the nearest future.
He seized the opportunity to announce other plans of the foundation including constructing a 60-bed mothers unit for the Ho Teaching Hospital.
“Very soon we will break grounds to kick-start the mothers unit to ensure that while we are working to address child mortality, we are looking at maternal mortality as well.”
Mr Kayi appealed to corporate organisations and kind-hearted Ghanaians to support the foundation to attain its target.
Dr Hilda Boye, the President of the PSG, in her address indicated that while efforts are being made to improve child health in the country, gaps including financing, lack of specialist professionals as well as unequal distribution of staff continue to persist.
BY ABIGAIL ANNOH