Any health worker found to have acted improperly and which may have led to the death of a 70-year-old man will face sanctions, the Public Relations Officer of the Ghana Health Service has said.
Robert Cudjoe says the GHS held a meeting on Monday to look into the issue and the authorities will crack the whip where necessary.
“The Ghana Health Service held a meeting and are looking at the issue and where some sort of sanctions need to be applied, they will be applied,” Mr Cudjoe told Roland Walker on the AM Show Tuesday on the Joy News channel on MultiTV.
Anthony Opoku-Acheampon, 70, passed on after he was rejected by seven different hospitals in the capital; Accra, with the simple excuse that there were no available beds.
Ishmael Opoku, a son of the late Opoku-Acheampon, says none of the hospitals they visited even administered first aid to stabilise the condition of his fainting father. According to reports, the old man finally passed on inside the car he was being moved around
Speaking on Tuesday, Mr Cudjoe lamented the lack of adequate equipment at the hospitals across the country, saying that, it is undeniable.
“…but in emergency situations, we can do more,” he added.
He added that in the situation of Mr Opoku Acheampon, the staff of the hospitals they took him to could have given him some first aid and that could have stabilised him and perhaps saved his life.
Mr Cudjoe also said that the Health Service has a code for hospitals to handle emergency at all times…“ it’s a formal directive,” he stated.
He added that the meeting of the Health Service Monday had some resolutions, one of which is the directive to hospitals to accept emergency cases without saying no bed.
Ayawaso West Wuogon Member of Parliament, Emmanuel Agyarko who was on the Am Show argued that it’s about time the authorities started holding such facilities to account for the purpose of their existence.
“Indeed we must even begin to ask that at the time that Mr Opoku-Acheampon went there was there a doctor present, and if there’s no doctor why should the place be opened…even with pharmacies, the law says if a pharmacy is opened there must be a pharmacist present…” Mr Agyarko argued.
Meanwhile, private legal practitioner and leading member of pressure group, OccupyGhana, Ace Ankomah has started a social media campaign to compel the government to solve the ‘No bed’ menace which is has become a trend in hospitals across the country.
Source: Myjoyonline.com
