Due to unfavourable conditions at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, an average of 44 children die every month at the Emergency Unit within 48 hours of admission, Prof. Oliver Commey, Paediatrician at the hospital has said.

He said financial constraints have led some parents to keep their children at home or seek cheaper health care elsewhere in which case Korle-Bu becomes a last resort when the situation has worsened.

Prof. Commey gave these grim statistics at the launching of the Korle-Bu Child Health Foundation, an initiative of staff of the Children's Unit in Accra on Tuesday. The Foundation would solicit funds to improve conditions at the Children's Unit. The fund was launched by Mrs. Gladys Asmah, Minister for Women and Children's Affairs, under the theme, "Save the Children, Save Mother Ghana", with a target of ?16 trillion.

Prof. Commey said unacceptable behaviour of certain parents contributes to the death of children, because most of the children brought to the unit die on their way to the hospital.

He appealed to philanthropists to contribute generously to the foundation. He said, "every child has an inalienable right to health and therefore it is imperative for parents and adults to provide for the health needs of their wards and children".

Mrs. Gladys Asmah said the future of the nation depends on how best the nation takes care of its children. All must make it their responsibility to offer what they can to save the nation's children from avoidable death.

She was not happy that since the hospital was established in 1965 there had not been any major renovation there. "The place meant to bring health to the sick paradoxically bears the hallmarks of an unhealthy environment. We need to make the hospital child-friendly with a touch of brightly coloured paint and pictures on the walls. We need well-equipped and fully functioning wards to make the department a pleasant environment for the helpless sick children who find themselves here."

The Minister personally donated 100 mattresses and promised her ministry's offer of more support.

"Children lie crammed 4 or 5 to a bed, all with different illnesses. Mothers sometimes have to sit on hard metal chairs carrying convulsing children or children receiving intravenous infusions in their arms because there is no bed space. Life-saving equipment are held together with sticks or plaster."

The desperate situation of the Children's unit is caught in the words of a hospital leaflet: "Too often the doctor-in-charge has to make the heart-rending decision to turn sick children away, because there is no room for them. Too often, a nurse has to administer treatment using makeshift equipment, because the appropriate one is not available."