The Volta River Authority has donated a cheque for GH¢ 10, 000 to the Ghana Heart Foundation to assist needy patients who could not afford the high cost of surgery at the National Cardiothoracic Centre, Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital.

Mrs Tandy Chothia, the Manager of Corporate Administration, VRA, presented the cheque to the Director of the Centre, Dr Lawrence Sereboe, to help in achieving the goal of giving patients a hundred per cent sponsorship.

She said the VRA received a letter of appeal from the Heart Foundation to assist the Centre to perform surgery on patients in need.

Mrs Chothia said the exercise was part of VRA’s corporate social responsibility to the Ghana Heart Foundation.

Dr Lawrence Sereboe expressed gratitude to VRA for the quick response to their appeal and the immense support to the Centre for the past 16 years.

He said presently, all patients who needed surgery received between 50 per cent to 70 per cent sponsorship from the Heart Foundation every year, and it was the aim of the Foundation to increase it to 100 per cent when donations increased.

Dr Sereboe said; “Unfortunately due to the increasing number of heart related problems we see every day, the Foundation is unable to achieve this target,” and that one out of 100 births got whole in heart thus about 5000 babies were affected each year.

Dr Sereboe said the Centre had advanced to enable it to provide effective health care to heart patients.