Emergency care deficit in Ghana

I am distressed and ashamed as a Ghanaian.

And you should be too.

Last Friday, Charles Amissah, a 29-year-old engineer, riding a motorcycle, died after a hit-and-run on the highway in Accra.

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The Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) responded within three minutes and did everything required to standard.

They took the bleeding victim to three of our best hospitals in Accra — Police Hospital, Ridge and Korle-Bu — and all three declined to render emergency care and/or to admit the patient.

The EMT pleaded in vain with the hospitals before the victim went into cardiac arrest and died.

This should not happen in a modern country with hospitals.

There should be an inquiry and accountability for this needless death.

A few years ago, when an Indian tourist died in similar circumstances in Portugal, it cost the Minister of Health her job.

And beyond this, there should be a broad look at our emergency care system.

“No bed syndrome” has been with us for a long time. I recall the young woman who gave birth in Takordi and bled to death because her husband could not fuel the ambulance.

Before then, there was the case of the woman from Dambai who was sent from hospital to hospital before she passed in the Northern Region.

In 2007, during a survey I did for the Ministry of Health, a nurse from the Central Region told me of her regular experiences being turned away from hospitals as she and her team fought to get care for patients.

“Has anyone died while you drove from hospital to hospital?”

I asked. “Yes, doctor,” she replied through tears.

This case is even more distressing since it happened in Accra.

What do you think is happening in Tetekaasum, Yagaba Kabore and many rural areas outside Accra?

Parliament needs to review the facts and pass an Emergency Care Law that would mandate hospitals to stabilise emergency patients before transfer.

Furthermore, there needs to be a database of admissions and bed status, accessible to EMS, so that they don’t drive blindly around looking for a place to send patients.

It is easier to find out which clubs are open than to find the bed status of hospitals!! Haba! Aden??

As part of this law, we should require all SHS students to get BLS training.

Mr President, these are the things that show the status of your reset agenda without bias. I know you care — as in MahamaCares.

Don’t let this crisis go to waste.

Please get the Attorney General and the Minister of Health together on this.

May Engineer Amissah find eternal rest as his family strives to understand how we failed him.

May God bless Ghana.

Dr Arthur Kobina Kennedy, Ghanaian US-based medical practitioner and activist.