As the country remembers the death of 70-year-old Anthony Opoku-Acheampong who died after he was turned away from seven hospitals over lack of beds, the President of the Ghana Registered Nurses & Midwives Association, Dr. Kweku Asante-Krobea has assured better commitment from nurses.
He said the action of health personnel on the day, two of which are facing disciplinary action, was “preposterous.”
“I do not think that we have any excuse in these scenes of incidents that happened one year ago and we have rendered apologies where it is due,” Dr. Asante-Krobea said on Citi TV‘s The Point of View.
“We have also resolved to make amends in the way we discharge our duties and so I do not think that from this time, we are going to see any such thing happening especially when it is about making sure at all costs that we give attention to patients who come to health facilities.”
Anthony Opoku-Acheampong had been sent to the C&J Medicare Hospital at Adabraka, the Korle Bu Polyclinic, the Greater Accra Regional Hospital (Ridge), the Police Hospital, Trust Hospital, the Korle Bu Hospital, Korle Bu Polyclinic and finally the LEKMA Hospital at Teshie where he died in his car.
The six-member committee probing the matter found that at C&J Medicare Hospital, for example, there were 20 empty beds at the time the man was brought in for medical care.
At the Greater Accra Regional Hospital and LEKMA Hospital, there were also beds available in some wards.
Dr. Asante-Krobea suggested that the situation may have arisen because of a “lack of confidence” from some health personnel in the face of an emergency situation.
According to him, some of them may have felt their institutions could not handle that particular emergency.
Anthony Opoku-Acheampong had complained of headaches and dizziness on the day he died and a nurse at C&J Medicare Hospital said he needed to be hospitalized after a brief assessment, but said the hospital could not cater for them.
“You cannot come out without the required confidence to face a situation like this… once the patient was on his way to that hospital for care and you think that without the required confidence, you will not be able the situation the best is to find an excuse” he noted.