Teenager dies "whilst doctors ate lunch"; Korle Bu refutes reports
Management of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital have refuted a report by e.tv Ghana that a teenage boy who died as a result of doctors’ laxity at the hospital a week ago.
According to the report by e.tv Ghana, the teenager was rushed to the hospital as a matter of urgency when his motor bike on which he was riding on collided with a taxi driver.
The report further alleged that the doctors on duty failed to give the teenager medical assistance on claims that they were hungry and therefore, had to eat. Unfortunately, the boy died in the course of their meal which, according to the boy’s mother, took the doctors four hours to have their meal.
Below is the full statement by the management of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.
NEWS RELEASE
SUBJECT: TEENAGER DIES “WHILST DOCTORS ATE LUNCH”
RELEASE: IMMEDIATE
The authorities of the Hospital wish to state that its staff never refused treatment to a patient at the Accident Centre because they were having their lunch, as carried by e.tv on their Friday, December 30, 2011 news.
The story claimed that the patient was brought to the hospital and for four hours the doctors at the Accident Centre refused him treatment because they were going to have meals.
Our investigations showed that the patient was referred to Korle Bu on Monday, December 26, 2011 around 3:30 pm. He was referred from a clinic at Amasaman on account of a road-traffic accident. He had been kept at the Amasaman clinic for over 24 hours after the incident before being brought to Korle Bu.
On arrival, it was observed that the patient had a distended stomach and was gasping. An x-ray was immediately run which showed that he had a dislocation in his spine and because of the difficulty the patient was having in breathing, the doctor on duty asked for oxygen to be set on him. The doctor, after examining the x-ray invited the patient's parents and explained the nature of the injury, the intervention that could be made and the likely outcomes.
He asked for the improvised collar they had put on the patient to be removed and fixed with a proper one which should have been put on him soon after sustaining the injury. After the collar had been fixed and all other necessary examinations done for him, the doctor went to see other patients and when he returned to examine the patient's condition he saw that the neck collar had been removed and when he asked, he was told by the patient's relatives that they removed it to enable the patient vomit. He fixed it again.
The doctor and other staff were constantly monitoring the patient's condition until he passed away at 4:30 pm, an hour and fifteen minutes after the patient was brought to Korle Bu.
The patient was not in the ward for four hours as e.tv falsely claimed in their report and we wish to state that the Hospital, its doctors and other staff had done all that was needed to be done for the patient.
The Accident Centre is a very busy place and doctors and staff there place premium in saving lives if it means forgoing their meals, as any professional health care provider would do in the face of emergency.
MUSTAPHA SALIFU
PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICER
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2011
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