Doctors and Nurses are killing patients prematurely in Ghana

Ghana, a developing country in West Africa, has a population of over 30 million. Medical illnesses in Ghana overlap with those in the developed countries, but infections, trauma and women's health problems are much more prominent in Ghana. Medical practice in rural Ghana faces limited resources, multiplicity of languages and presentation of severe illnesses that have reached later stages.

Despite all these, Ghana has been able to establish a relatively successful health insurance policy. Doctors and nurses are working with pain and frustration in their hearts. Apart from the low salaries they receive when compared to their counterparts abroad, the government has still not paid their allowances for the past one year. Doctors in Ghana are therefore working half-heartedly due to unpaid allowances for almost one year, and inadequate mechanical devices diagnose and cure patients. Basic indispensable hardware devices like MRIs, Dialysis machines, sonogram machines are not available in the public hospitals. Some of these are available in private hospitals to which patients are referred at their own cost.

A Ghanaian lady who was studying abroad felt a kind of heaviness under her. She consulted a doctor and after a thorough examination, the doctors found out that she has a fibroid which has which has entrenched itself deep in the womb. The doctors decided that, for her to survive, the fibroid must be removed together with the womb. She came face to face with the reality that she would not be able to bear her own children. Upon the advice she received from Ghana, she escaped from the hospital and booked a flight to Ghana. She consulted a Ghanaian doctor who assured her that he could remove the fibroid without causing harm to her womb. During the process to remove the fibroid, the doctor realised he had made a mistake in his judgement. The lady died in the process of removing the fibroid. Who is to blame - the lady with the fibroid or the doctor in Ghana?

In another development, a woman popularly known as Mama Faustie, suddenly fell sick and was taken to the Komfo Anokye Hospital, where she was admitted for further treatment. Her only brother, an endocrinologist and a surgical specialist in the USA, was informed about his sister's life and death situation at the hospital in Kumasi. He loved his sister so much so he bought a ticket and flew the following day to Ghana. When he arrived at the Kotoka International Airport, he received a phone call that her sister had died and would soon be taken to the mortuary. He rushed to take the plane to Kumasi together with his nephew who came to meet him. On arrival at Kumasi, he hurried to the hospital in a taxi with his nephew. On arrival at the hospital he rushed with his luggage to the ward where her sister had been declared dead. He saw her sister lying on the bed, covered from head to toe. He removed the cover off her sister and began to press her wrist and neck area. He shouted to a nurse to call him the doctor. When the doctor came, he ordered the doctor to provide her oxygen. The doctor insisted his sister was dead and she would soon be taken to the mortuary and besides the only oxygen left was reserved for another patient. He shouted at the top of his voice: ''I am a specialist doctor and if you don't provide the oxygen, I will make sure your license is withdrawn.'' The doctor reluctantly went with the nurse and brought the oxygen. They fixed the oxygen transfusion needle to the woman. The doctor and the nurse left because deep inside them, they saw it as an exercise in futility. Within thirty minutes, her sister opened her eyes and immediately he lifted her up to sit down. She called to nurse to bring the doctor. The doctor came feeling ashamed and guilty. If her brother had not come down to Ghana, she would not have been counted among the living.

A Ghanaian lady who lived in Germany came to visit relatives in Ghana after fifteen years. She had her own house and two teenaged children. After ten days in Ghana, she drove her car into a parked truck. She got seriously injured. She was rushed to Korle Bu Hospital but there was no bed available. She was taken to Ridge Hospital and it was the same story: All beds were occupied and they were advised to take her to Legon hospital. Unfortunately she died even before they reached the hospital.

Many doctors are frustrated due to insufficient salaries and several months of unpaid allowances. The hospitals lack appropriate equipment to work with. Even powerful generators that could come on automatically anytime power goes off are not available. Several babies in incubators and those patients who are undergoing operation die when power goes off without notice. When is there going to be perfection and positive change in Ghana.