Kumasi, June 6, GNA - The Department of Social Welfare has appealed to the public to come to the aid of a four-year-old ailing boy, Master Bright Agyare-Gyasi to under go an emergency hydrocephalic operation at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi.

A statement signed by Mr. Pascal Osei-Twumasi, Ashanti Regional Director of the Department and issued to the Press in Kumasi on Friday said, the cost of the operation was estimated at GH¢4,000 covering medical and other miscellaneous expenses.

Hygrophilous is a condition characterised by abnormal increase in the amount of fluid in the cranium, especially in young children, causing enlargement of the head and deterioration of the brain. The statement said, the parents of Agyare-Gyasi were unable to meet the cost because of financial constraints arising from commitments already made on the child.

The statement emphasized that, donations from the general public, were more particularly necessary since the boy's condition was not covered under the National Health Insurance Scheme.

Meanwhile, a related statement on the health conditions of Agyare-Gyasi signed by Dr. Kofi Vowotor, a Neurosurgeon at KATH and attached to that of the Department of Social Welfare, indicated that the ailing boy was diagnosed at the Child Health Department on April 11, this year, where he was identified with his current condition. The statement said, Agyare-Gyasi had been unable to walk since birth as a result of the disease and said this had also led to the swollen of his head.

It said his present condition needed to be corrected surgically by implanting a ventricular-peritoneal blunt as soon as possible to help improve his health.