IT Consortium donated an amount of GH¢67,500 raised through the Save-A-Heart campaign to support the heart surgery of little Baaba Ewoenam Tsagli at the National Cardiothoracic Centre, Korle Bu.
This was the first donation raised through the ‘Chango’ platform which was launched in December last year.
The ‘Chango’ platform is a group contribution and crowdfunding platform that is designed to enable individuals and organisations raise funds for any specific purpose or campaign. An example of such a campaign is the Save-A-Heart project, which seeks to mobilise one million Ghanaians who will donate regularly on the platform to support surgeries for children born with congenital heart disease at the National Cardiothoracic Centre. This donation is therefore the first of many more to come.
Speaking at a short ceremony to mark the donation, the Chief Executive Officer of IT Consortium, Mr. Romeo Bugyei, said there are currently 130 individuals donating to support this particular campaign for heart surgeries.
“This is our first major donation since the introduction of the ‘Chango’ platform and we thought it wise to collaborate with the Cardio Centre and start with a good cause of supporting children with hole-in-heart conditions.
“So far, there are 7,018 users on the Change app and 130 of these users donate monthly toward this worthy course. We’ve been able to raise GH¢73,320 for various campaigns so far,” he stated.
He urged each and every Ghanaian to join in this noble campaign to support needy families to cater for the medical bills of their wards at the Cardio Centre.
“The Chango platform does not have barriers, hence, one can donate from every part of the world, wherever one may find himself/ herself. No amount is too small. Chango has come to change the face of donations in this country,” he said.
More support for Save-A-Heart campaign
Receiving the donation on behalf of the National Cardiothoracic Centre, a Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon at the Centre, Dr. Kow Entsua-Mensah, expressed the gratitude of staff and patients of the centre for the donation. He was full of praise for the timely innovation of using the Chango app. He also called for more support for patients with cardiothoracic conditions.
“We want to use this opportunity to encourage many more people to get onto this campaign of saving lives. By the kind courtesy of IT Consortium, it has become easier to donate to the Cardiothoracic Centre now more than ever. You do not have to worry about the amount you are going to donate because every cedi counts in a campaign like this. All you have to do is go to www.changoapp.com, get the Chango app or donate through the web,” he said.
He further indicated that the centre receives over a hundred heart cases monthly, hence, the need for more support to save lives.
“Every week, the National Cardiothoracic Centre receives close to thirty new cases of heart conditions of various types.
“There are those who are born with heart conditions and others who acquire heart conditions later on in life. The numbers are really high in both adults and children. That means in a month, we receive more than a hundred cases of heart diseases of various types,” he stated.
