‘No bed syndrome’: Ridge Hospital sets up committee to deal with menace
The Medical Director of the Greater Accra Regional Hospital, Dr Emmanuel Srofenyoh, has disclosed that a seven-member bed management committee has been set up to deal with the unavailability of beds at the health facility.
Over the years, the “no bed syndrome” has been a topical issue as some health facilities have been rejecting emergency cases because of the shortage of beds, which sometimes leads to the death of patients.
Speaking at the 5th-anniversary celebration of the Greater Accra Regional Hospital, Dr Srofenyoh said the “no bed syndrome” is gradually becoming a thing of the past at the facility.
“To respond properly to this, we established the bed management committee, and they go round every four hours. Once there is a bed space somewhere they identify the space, and they inform the emergency department for patients to be transferred, so we create space within the emergency.”
“So at all times, we have a bed space within the emergency to receive any emergencies that are transferred,” Dr Srofenyoh said.
“No bed syndrome”
In 2018, a new terminology emerged in the Ghanaian society labelled as “no bed syndrome” to describe the lack of beds in hospitals for new patients, particularly in the emergency department.
The phenomenon seems to have existed for a while, albeit latent, until it was implicated in the death of a 70-year-old man. This sad event occurred following several failed attempts to secure admission.
Prince Anthony Opoku Acheampong, the CEO of Printhony Printing Press in Adabraka, a suburb of Accra, finally died in his car at the LEKMA Hospital at Teshie after seven hospitals turned him away over claims there were no beds.
The deceased’s family started searching for a hospital for him at 11:00 pm on June 2, travelling for about 46 kilometres across the seven hospitals till he eventually died at around 3:30 am.
The first hospital Prince Anthony Opoku-Acheampong and his family went to before he died was a private facility, C&J Medicare Hospital.
Over there, a nurse confirmed that Prince Anthony needed to be hospitalized after a brief assessment but said the hospital could not cater for them.
From there, the family moved on to the Korle Bu Polyclinic, Ridge Hospital, Police Hospital, the Trust Hospital, and the La Polyclinic before finally arriving at the LEKMA Hospital at Teshie, where he eventually died.