The Central Aflao Hospital in the Volta Region’s Ketu South Municipality, along with two nurses from the facility, is currently being investigated for alleged medical negligence.
The investigation stems from an incident where a critically ill patient, Linda Adua, was denied treatment unless a cash deposit was made, ultimately resulting in her death.
In response to this tragic event, the family of Linda Adua has submitted a petition to the President, the Minister of Health, the Ghana Health Service, and the Medical and Dental Council, seeking justice for their loved one.
According to the family, despite the pleas of both Linda Adua and her 19-year-old son, the nurses refused to accept mobile money payment for her treatment. As a result, the patient was left unattended until her untimely demise.
Acknowledging the gravity of the situation, the Medical and Dental Council and the Ghana Health Service (GHS) have promptly reacted to the petition. They have dispatched a team of investigators to the hospital to conduct a thorough probe into the matter.
Dr. Gabrielle Kojo, the Medical Director of the Aflao Central Hospital, also known as Nkansah Hospital, has confirmed that a team from the Ghana Health Service is currently on-site at the hospital to investigate the incident.
“The police have summoned us to release the nurses involved for interrogation on the matter, which we have done,” he said.
Dr. Makafui Dagbasu, the Medical Director of the Ketu South Municipal Hospital, which serves as the primary referral center for the municipality, has also confirmed that an investigation is underway regarding the incident.
Abigail Adua, the elder sister of the deceased, informed the Daily Graphic that when Linda Adua seemed to have passed away, the hospital instructed her son to transfer her to a government facility, where she was pronounced dead upon arrival.
Linda, who is yet to be buried, lived with her only son in Aflao, where she operated a restaurant.
“Much as we appreciate the work and dedication to duty of health professionals, we think that there are some bad lots among them in the hospitals and clinics, whose actions and inaction are denting the image of the medical and nursing professions and need to be brought to order to sanitise the system,” Ms Adua said.
She said Linda’s son, Jerry Nii Tetteh, had just gained admission to pursue a degree programme at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), and was now left alone and traumatised as his reliable source of support and friend was gone.
The late Linda Adua
Abigail said on April 11 this year, Linda asked her son to accompany her to the hospital because she was not feeling too well.
“They reached the hospital around 4:05 a.m., and were met by two nurses on duty, who requested that they made a deposit of GH¢400 before she would be attended to,” Abigail narrated.
She said Linda offered to pay through mobile money transfer, but the nurses said electronic transfers were against the hospital’s policy, insisting that Tetteh should go out of the hospital to look for a mobile money merchant to withdraw cash for the payment.
“My sister pleaded with the nurses to take the MoMo and attend to her because it was too early in the morning to find a merchant to withdraw the money, but they refused,” she said.
Plea
She said Linda’s son later “had to walk from the hospital to Avoeme Junction before getting a motorbike to take him to the Aflao Border, about two kilometres from the hospital, in search of a mobile money merchant.
“All this while, Linda remained seated in a wheelchair in the outpatient department (OPD) unattended to by the nurses. No details of the complaints were recorded, and her vitals were also not taken except her name which was recorded in the patient register at the OPD,” she added.
The son found no merchant to facilitate the cash withdrawal, she said.
Linda, meanwhile, complained of difficulty in breathing and pleaded with the nurses to put her on oxygen.
“One of the nurses retorted that she was disturbing them as she scanned her phone,” she said.
She said Linda, who had been wheeled to a ward, asked the son to assist her to the washroom, but she fell on the way.
“It was at that point that another patient in the ward, who witnessed the whole incident, rushed out to inform the nurses about what had happened.
“The nurse, apparently sensing danger, told Linda’s son to get a taxi and take her to the Ketu South Municipal Hospital as her situation was beyond their capacity,” she said.
Confused and helpless
Abigail said the son rushed to get the taxi as his mother remained motionless, and by the time he got back to the hospital with the taxi, the mother had been put on a stretcher, and wheeled from the ward to the entrance of the hospital.
She said the nurses asked the young man to sit in the taxi as they pushed the motionless body of his mother into the taxi, with her head resting on his laps, and instructed him to take her to the Ketu South Municipal Hospital without a referral note or an accompanying officer.
“Just upon arrival at the Ketu South Municipal Hospital, Linda was pronounced dead by the medical staff who said they were sure she had died several minutes before being brought to their facility at about 7:40 a.m,” she said.
Abigail said when the news of the incident reached the family, they reached out to the management of the Central Aflao Hospital to understand what Linda’s son had narrated to them.