Ridge Hospital investigates allegations its medical officer left towel in woman’s stomach

The Greater Accra Regional Hospital has once again come under the spotlight with allegations of medical negligence.

The hospital, also known as the Ridge Hospital, recently came under widespread backlash when the Rector of the Ghana Institute of Languages took to social media to narrate how he painfully lost his wife at the facility.

He accused the hospital of medical negligence.

In another case, the family of 24-year-old Barbara Oforiwaa Agyemang in July 2020 accused the hospital of misdiagnosis after medical professionals allegedly treated their relative for COVID-19.

They blamed medical staff for the death of their daughter, whose COVID-19 test results showed negative after she had died.

In the latest allegation leveled against the facility, a woman has given an account of how a medical doctor allegedly left a towel inside her stomach after a cesarean section had been performed on her.

The woman who narrated her ordeal to Accra-based Angel FM said the towel was dumped in her stomach for nine months.

The Management at the Greater Accra Regional Hospital has told theghanareport.com that it has initiated investigations into allegations that one of its medical doctors was negligent in the discharge of his duty.

“We are investigating the matter. It’s an old thing. 2015. In the old Ridge. Record systems have changed,” Medical Director at the hospital, Dr. Emmanuel Srofenyo told theghanareport.com.

The victim, Mary Mensah said after her surgery, she started vomiting frequently.

“I was discharged a day after the surgery, and the doctors said I could eat anything soft. Two days after I went home, I started vomiting deep green as though I had eaten green grass. So I was taken to the Rock hospital because that was the closest.

“When we got there, the doctor said I should be taken back to Ridge hospital. When we got there, they connected some tubes into my nostrils and started collecting the green liquid from my system. I was made to do a scan and they said there was nothing wrong with me,” she narrated.

 

The mother of three said she returned to the Ridge hospital not less than twice, but was told nothing could be done about her situation since it had been nine months after her surgery.

“I started losing weight drastically. I couldn’t sleep on my left side. Each time I attempted, the pains were unbearable.”

Her situation continued to worsen until she went to another hospital she referred to as the Rock hospital where an X- Ray scan detected that something was lying inside her tummy.

“During the surgery, the doctor saw the towel and removed it from my stomach.”

The victim further alleged that after the towel was discovered and removed by doctors at The Rock Hospital, she went to the Ridge hospital to speak to the doctor who performed the earlier surgery.

“After they removed the towel, I went to Ridge to speak to the doctor who left the towel inside my stomach, but he said since it had been removed, there was no problem.”

“He said once I was alive, then that was all that mattered. He also said I would incur costs if I go for a lawyer to sue them. He said the legal back and forth would make me waste money so I should forget any attempt to sue them,” she said.