Societe Generale (SG) Bank, Ghana, has presented an amount of GHc33,000 to the Ghana Heart Foundation to support its activity of assisting people with cardiovascular diseases.

The money, raised from the contributions of staff and management, is expected to cater for the treatment of heart patients and aid in research and training programmes of the foundation.

Gilbert Hie, Managing Director of SG Bank, in his speech said the company believes in giving back to the society in which it operated, thus the donation was to put the commitment of the bank into practice.

Angela Nanansaa Bonsu, company secretary, welcoming participants to the short presentation ceremony, mentioned that patients with heart disease often find it difficult to afford treatment which most of the time leads to their deaths.

She, therefore, pointed out that the bank decided to support the foundation which provided every heart patient with at least 50 percent coverage of the cost of treatment to do more.

She said by the gesture, the bank hopes to strengthen its team work and cement its reputation in corporate social responsibility initiative in the country.

Dr Lawrence Agyeman Sereboe, Director of the Ghana Heart Foundation and National Cardiothoracic Centre, receiving the cheque, thanked the staff and management for their continuous support to the foundation.

He also took the opportunity to enlighten the gathering on heart diseases and how to prevent them from occurring.

Dr Sereboe said coronary artery disease is one of the leading heart problems which claims a lot of lives in the country.

This, he attributed to the transition of the country from infectious diseases to degenerating ones, indicating that per the World Health Organisation (WHO), deaths due to heart diseases and stroke would reach 23 million by 2030.