Kumasi, Oct. 7, GNA - The Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) with the support of Smith and Nephew, a foreign donor, and its local representative, Reha Medical Group Limited in Accra, will establish a Burns and Reconstructive Centre in Kumasi.

The project, which is the second to be established in the country would soon take-off and is designed to help cater for the management of burns in the Northern sector of the country. The first centre was set up at the Korle-Bu Teaching hospital in Accra.

Professor Ohene Adjei, Chief Executive officer (CEO) of KATH, announced this at the opening of a two-day Conference on Emergency Management of Severe Burns in Kumasi.

The conference, being organised by the Ghana Burn Association in collaboration with KATH is being attended by 150 participants including doctors, nurses, physiotherapists and the general public.

The CEO said the conference was timely due to the increasing incidence of burns Ghana had witnessed in recent times, as a result of fire disasters, which caused fatalities and loss of property. He advised health workers to use the knowledge and skills at the conference to help in the management of burns patients.

Dr Opoku Ware Ampomah, Reconstructive Surgeon and President of the Ghana Burns Association, said about 50 per cent of burns victims are children and advised parents to take proper care of them and not to expose them to naked fires and electrical gadgets.

He stressed the need for burn victims to report quickly to hospital and other health facilities for medical attention rather than staying at home to apply herbs and other balms to treat themselves. He said the association had intensified its education to the public on the need for them to be wary of petrol, naked fire and other inflammable materials.

Mr Dennis Opoku Gyamfi, Ashanti Regional President of Burns Survivors Foundation, said most of the victims face stigmatisation and called on medical officers to counsel them to feel confident to socialise.