U/E: Public mourns death of schoolboy neglected at hospital

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A report about a schoolboy, who is said to have died as a result of negligence at the Upper East Regional Hospital, is drawing a great deal of anguish and sympathy from the public after the Ghana Coalition of NGOs in Health (GCNH) narrated his grim last moments on earth.

The report was one of the highlights of a health forum organised by the coalition as part of its 2019 Annual General Meeting (AGM).

The event is taking place in the Upper East regional capital, Bolgatanga, under the theme: “Taking Advantage of ICT to drive the Achievement of Universal Health Coverage in Ghana”.

“This is how it happened. The boy was knocked down by a motorcycle. He was taken to the regional hospital. As they were taking care of the boy, he (the boy’s father) noticed that one of the legs was getting blacker than the other one. So, he quickly drew the attention of one of the healthcare providers. They ignored him. They told him they were focusing on the head where he (the boy) had bruises. They left the leg.

“On the third day, they realised that if they held the child here in Bolga, the child would die. So, they asked for a referral note. The referral note took more than 5 hours before it was written. Whilst they were on the way to the Tamale Teaching Hospital, they tried to call the doctor who referred so they could link him to the doctor in Tamale; he would never pick his calls,” the coalition’s National Chairman, Dr Gabriel Benarkuu, told stakeholders at the forum on Thursday (today).

Continuing the story, Dr Benarkuu said: “There was no support system for the boy as they were moving from Bolga. They eventually got to Tamale. After 3 days, they amputated the leg. And after amputation, still the child was seriously infected and he died. If they had listened to the boy’s father, who drew their attention that the leg was affected, technology would have scanned and they would have known what was wrong with the leg. They never listened to him and that is how come he lost the boy.”

The boy’s father, Adua Abdul-Sahkirt, told the media the crash happened on August 28, this year, after school hours.

Our Drone Technology is Paying Off— Government Sings own Praises

With President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo scheduled to visit the region on Friday for the sod-cutting ceremony of a multipurpose dam at Pwalugu, the Upper East Regional Minister, Paulina Patience Abayage, is absent at the forum as the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) is preparing the ground for the President’s call.

Addressing the forum in a speech read by an assistant director at the RCC, Andrew Akumbutum, the Regional Minister hailed the role ICT played in healthcare delivery but also observed that utilisation was much limited in developing countries owing to some factors.

“Literacy levels and access to ICT infrastructure remain daunting challenges. Poor internet connectivity and budget constraints are the other factors that stand in the way of using ICT for effectiveness and efficiency in health service provision.       

“It is in the light of the above that the Government of Ghana is embarking on an ICT revolution as part of our social and economic transformation agenda. In order to overcome the challenge of inaccessibility to some communities by health professionals especially with emergency services, government procured drones this year. So far, the decision is paying off in both cities and towns,” stated the Regional Minister.

Teenage Pregnancies have job potential for Counsellors— Former GHS DG

The ongoing forum has in attendance top members of the coalition, officials from the Ghana Health Service (GHS) and several government representatives.  

Speaking to the theme, a former GHS’s Director-General, Dr Ebenezer Appiah-Denkyira, placed emphasis on the role technology could play in helping the country to tackle its major health-related dilemmas.

“They say there is no job. There is job. A lot of the teenage pregnancies in this country is because people don’t have counsellors. Just visit public institutions and say, ‘I have a counselling package for the adolescents. We teach them about teenage pregnancies, drug abuse and so on’. They could have their counselling sessions on phone. We can bring the service to the people. Universal Health Coverage; we can get the services to the people,” said Dr Appiah-Denkyira.

The institutions present at the forum showered the coalition with praises for the efforts being made in every region to change the country’s health sector for the better. As stakeholders paid tributes to the coalition in turns amid applause from the audience, the GHS’s Deputy Director of Policy Planning Monitoring and Evaluation (PPME), Charles Acquah, encouraged the coalition to do more.

“Information Communication Technology (ICT) is key in helping Ghana to achieve Universal Health Coverage, but it is not enough,” he noted.  “The coalition needs to make a lot of noise and put us on our toes and Ghana will be better off,” he added.

Source: Daily Mail GH