NPA to upgrade Burns Centre to first-class facility

The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) has announced a programme to refurbish the wards of the Reconstructive Plastic Surgery and Burns Centre of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital into an ultra-modern facility to improve the management of burns in the country.

The refurbishment will cost nearly GH¢1 million and turn the existing wards of the Burns Centre into a state-of-the-art hospital facility in the country.

The Chief Executive Officer of the NPA, Mr Moses Asaga, said the NPA’s refurbishment of the wards of the Burns Centre was to fulfil the passion and vision of President John Mahama for a first-class Burns Centre to manage  burns and related accidents in the country.

He announced this at the launch of this year’s Consumer Week of the NPA in the Northern Regional Capital, Tamale, last Wednesday.

The Consumer Week launch is aimed at encouraging households in the Upper East, Upper West and Northern regions to switch from the use of wood fuel to Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) to save the depleting vegetative cover of the Savannah belt.

Statistics by the NPA show that northern Ghana accounts for only three per cent of the total national consumption of LPG.

The week-long celebration will also focus on sensitising households to the safe handling of LPG to prevent accidents.

Data reveals that injuries and deaths from burns-related accidents have been rising steadily since 2011. This is even exacerbated by the poorly equipped Burns Centreßß.

The initiative by the NPA to refurbish the Burns Centre is, therefore, seen by many as timely, in the light of accidents associated with LPG use across the country.