General News of Wednesday, 18 May 2016
Source: citifmonline.com
Victor Bampoe
The Deputy Minister of Heath, Victor Bampoe has indicated that his outfit is taking measures to ensure various hospitals are stocked with enough beds to accommodate patients who are rushed there for medical care.
The move follows the death of a patient who was rushed to three government hospitals for medical care but was turned away due to the limited number of beds.
The Deputy Minister earlier posted on his Facebook page that the patient had to go through a “12-hour ordeal of ‘no bed, go to this or that hospital’ which took them to three government hospitals until he finally succumbed to his illness in his nephew Vanel’s arms on the grounds of one of the hospitals.”
Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show, Mr. Bampoe described the practice where hospitals turn down patients due to a lack of beds as illegal and immoral.
He was, however, quick to add that the Ministry will soon address these challenges.
“Some work has been initiated to make sure that the ‘no-bed syndrome’ does not continue in hospitals. We are setting up a system that will have one person at every hospital to check if there are beds there.”
“We are attaching maximum seriousness to the issue of no beds in our health facilities.”
4 mothers share single bed at Tema General Hospital
Various hospitals have over the years been compelled to turn away patients who throng their facilities for medical care due to a limited number of beds at various health facilities.
Checks by Citi News a few months ago at the Tema General Hospital revealed a grim picture of how infrastructure deficit was affecting healthcare delivery, to the extent that between four to six mothers delivered of newborns, shared a single bed at the maternity ward.
The maternity ward, which should take about six women, was taking nearly 36 mothers.