'Dumsor' shouldn't happen in hospitals again

Perpetual Ofori-Ampofo, the President of the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA), has expressed concern over power outages in health facilities, stating that such incidents could have disastrous consequences.

Her comments come in the wake of the alleged death of a three-day-old baby at the Tema General Hospital on Tuesday, March 26, 2024.

In an interview on Sunday, March 31, Mrs. Ofori-Ampofo stated, “It is a problem we are all experiencing but to have facilities such as hospitals have power outages to the extent that it causes the loss of life is something that should never happen.”

Meanwhile, Rashida Abubakar Tetteh, the 24-year-old mother of the deceased baby, revealed that she was informed by a doctor that her son could not survive due to the non-functioning medical equipment during the power outage.

“I went to visit my son, but I didn’t see him. I was waiting outside when one doctor came to inform me that they were sorry, but due to the lights out, my child could not survive because the incubator was not working. The lights went off on Tuesday evening. No staff has spoken to me, and they haven’t said anything to me,” she said.

However, the hospital issued a statement on Wednesday, March 27, refuting these claims as unfounded and urging the public to disregard them.

“It is worth noting that no lives were lost as a result of this power outage,” the statement said.