The Greater Accra Regional Hospital (Ridge Hospital) has, in recent times, come under severe public criticisms over alleged negligence of duty by some of the health officials working at the facility. Built at the cost $250 million from the sweat of the tax payer, many were those who were expecting the Ridge Hospital to live above reproach, but from the narration so far, the people are disappointed.
Already a Madina-based man, Mohammed Mustapha, has filed a GH¢5 million suit against the hospital over the death of his wife who had gone to the facility to deliver. According to Mohammed Mustapha, the death of his late wife, Akua Nyarko Osei-Bonsu, who was a practising nurse, and his new-born baby, was a result of alleged negligence of the Ridge Hospital.
He claimed that the hospital ignored all the laid down procedures in dealing with a patient who underwent a caesarean section (CS), leading to the wife developing a condition called thromboembolism, which eventually led to her death.
Dr Emmanuel Kuto, Director of the Ghana Institute of Languages, is also threatening to sue the hospital over the death of his wife. According to him, doctors at the facility reportedly prescribed wrong medication for his wife, which resulted in her death.
In a face book post to register his protest, the academician said: “He (a doctor) picked the phone and called someone. From the conversation, it was clear that the other doctor had promptly admitted to prescribing the drug. Folks, I swear by my father’s grave that my wife’s doctor said something like this. ‘I can’t believe you have done this again. This is the second time. This woman’s case is similar to the other one, but you have done it again’.”
The hospital administration has promised investigations into all the cases. The Ghana Medical Association (GMA), the umbrella professional body, has also promised to probe the issue. “We have taken notice of all that …and we will do our necessary best to ensure that we also get to the bottom of the issue and look at the way forward. I know the facility itself may take some measures, and the Ghana Health Service that owns the facility may also put in place some measures. We will work with all of them to ensure that we get to a conclusion,” Dr. Justice Yankson, General Secretary of the GMA told Citi FM.
Since the hospital administration and the GMA are all looking into the allegations, we, as laymen, cannot tentatively conclude that the negligence of the medical doctors at the facility caused the above mentioned deaths. But, whilst we are waiting for the outcome of these probes, we are also alarmed that it is not only Dr Emmanuel Kuto and Mohammed Mustapha who are bringing into question the professional competence of some of the medical doctors at the Ridge Hospital.
Indeed, a leading member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Joyce Konokie-Zampare, also recounted on television recently, a dreadful situation she went through when she was admitted at the same Ridge Hospital some time ago. She complained bitterly about the conduct of some of the health officials, and concluded that, but for the Almighty God who was on her side, she would have died through the negligence of some of the health personalities.
In fact, what she went through at the hospital traumatised her to the extent that she started divulging certain information about herself, which, in our view, ought to have been kept secret.
As the adage goes, there is no smoke without fire – the way the complaints keep coming up, there may be a little bit of truthfulness in some of them. Since medical doctors and nurses are also human beings, they are bound to make mistakes, but, unlike other professions, mistakes medical doctors make have dire consequences, including, but not limited to, death. Journalists, legal practitioners, and surveyors, among a host of others, can make mistakes, but the opportunity is there to correct them. However, when a doctor makes a mistake and his or her patient dies, there is no way the person can be brought back to life.
This is the reason why doctors spend as many as seven years in their training to properly equip them for the task ahead. But, as we have already alluded to, they are human beings and are, therefore, prone to making mistakes.
In our view, however, these mistakes should be minimal and not on the scale being reported at the Ridge Hospital. The facility will become a white elephant and the millions of dollars sunk into it would have gone down the drain if the public perception that the hospital is not safe to seek medical attention at reaches a certain level.
The Chronicle is, therefore, appealing to both the management of the Ridge Hospital and GMA to speed up their respective investigations into the cases that have been reported, and make the findings and recommendations public to assure those who visit the facility that they are safe any time they seek medical attention there.
Anything short of this will not portray a good image of the facility.
The post Editorial : The nerve-wracking situation at Ridge Hospital appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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