- partners with Rotary Club Accra-Industrial on the pilot project
The University of Ghana Medical Centre (UGMC) has embarked on a mission to train Junior and Senior High School students in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to sensitise the next generation on basic life support procedures.
The management of the health facility indicated that its medical training & simulation centre (MTSC), among other things, is into the training of both non-health and health professionals in various health and well-being issues; and as part of the non-health aspect, it has decided to extend the training to students at the basic level to inculcate some basic level of knowledge in handling emergencies of heart failure or collapse which is becoming very common.
To ensure efficient execution of the programme, the UGMC has partnered with the Rotary Club of Accra-Industrial to provide a funding amount of GH₵11,300 to carry out a pilot project that will fine-tune and help develop proper strategies that will ensure maximum impact.
The pilot project is targetted at reaching 200 students selected from four different schools which include Achimota, Accra Girls, Presec Legon, and St. Mary Senior High School.
Chief Executive Officer of UGMC, Dr. Darius Osei, speaking at the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the partners, emphasised that training on basic life support usually referred to as CPR will help the teenagers to improve their confidence, as well as help them to save the lives of victims in times of sudden cardiac arrest.
Dr. Osei expressed appreciation to the Rotary Club of Accra-Industrial for the MoU, noting that it has opened up channels for cooperation between the institutions and other Rotary Clubs, as well as other organisations. He added that he was hoping that other corporate and well-meaning institutions will come on board to support the centre with funding to extend the training across different sectors and areas in the country.
On his part, the Director of the Medical Training and Simulation Centre of the UGMC, Prof. Aaron Lamptey Lawson, indicated that the training centre had been engaged in some public training programmes since its inception, and has trained over 1000 staff in several corporate organisations in the country including staff of the Consolidated Bank Ghana (CBG), the Bank of Ghana, Inter City STC, among others.
He also indicated that these teenagers are very energetic and ready to learn as well, hence, teaching them this basic life support at an early stage would help to save a lot of life in cases of emergency. He said the UGMC is now fully open to both the Ghanaian public and residents of the sub-region after the completion of the Phase II Project in March 2022.
The President of Rotary Club Accra-Industrial, Dean Selorm Senchim, indicated that the MoU signed with the UGMC will make it possible for the Rotary Club to make funding available for the training programme, adding that health and education support fall within the seven areas of focus by the Rotary Club; hence, the partnership is one of the ways that the club gives back to society.
He added that the club is convinced that the facility at UGMC is world-class, and therefore, some of its projects under the ‘Little Heart Foundation’ that takes care of the medical cost of children suffering from peculiar heart issues to be taken to Indian, South Africa, among others, for surgical operations will now be carried out here at the UGMC.
