Ghana�s only orthopaedic training centre is to receive a facelift with the replacement of its over 60-year-old machines under a $121,880 Japanese grant.
The grant from the government of Japan under the Japanese Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects scheme would enable the Orthopaedic Training Centre in Nsawam, Adoagyiri in the Eastern Region to acquire modern equipment for the refurnishing of its workshop.
The centre manufactures and repairs orthopaedic and prosthetic products such as artificial limbs, orthopaedic or prosthesis shoes, leg braces and splints among others for the physically challenged in Ghana and its surrounding countries.
Japanese Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Naoto Nikai, after signing the contract with the Orthopaedic Training Centre, in Accra, said it was unfortunate that since the establishment of the centre, its workshop had continued to use the same machinery that was donated to them in the 1960s.
�These equipment have become obsolete and need to be replaced entirely,� he said and added that the grant would enable the centre to manufacture about 3000 new orthopedic products for the physically challenged in the county.
Co-Director of the Orthopaedic Training Centre, Sister Elizabeth Newman, who signed the contract on behalf of the centre, said the machines were old �but with good maintenance we have been able to keep them in good shape.�
She said last year, the centre with staff strength of 70, served 7,257 patients from all over Ghana and surrounding countries.
Sister Newman said that the centre was receiving more amputee cases due to road accidents and diabetes while arm amputee cases were also on the rise due to industrial accidents.
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