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The lives of pregnant women in need of emergency attention at the
Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital are in danger as they are compelled to
climb staircase to access the Maternity Ward.
Five out of eight elevators at the old 'G' Block have broken down,
exposing patients to danger.
Doctors at the Obstetrics and Gynecology Directorate say more
pregnancy-related complications are being recorded due to the present
situation.
The nineteen-year old elevators have been down for about two months now.
Nhyira News checks reveal management of the hospital spends between
90, 000 and 100 thousand annually to maintain the lifts; with each
elevator breaking down again at an interval of two weeks after repair.
Some operators have suffered the scary and unpleasant risk of being
trapped in the elevator.
Pregnant women endure effects of the broken down equipment as they
seek emergency services.
They have had to put their lives on the line, as they delay in
reaching care givers.
Thirty -eight year old Stella Mensah went through pain when she was
referred to Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital from the Suntreso Hospital.
Unluckily for Stella, she had no option but to use the staircase after
had endured the agony of waiting for several minutes for an ambulance.
Thanks to doctors, the visibly shaking Stella who struggled to speak
to Nhyira News on her hospital bed has had her condition classified as
emergency case saved.
Doctors at the Obstetrics and Gynecology Directorate have had to work
extra hard to safe emergency situations which developed complications
having delayed before reaching caregivers.
Their lucky patients have to rely on elevators at the B- Block or
D-Block before they are brought before them, a situation which delay
healthcare service delivery, the resultant effect being some patients
developing complications.
Head of Obstetrics and Gynecology Directorate, Professor Archer Turpin
who is worried the situation wants prompt action to address the
challenge.
" People coming to the department most of them are pregnant; most of
them are in labour. Some of them have been referred from other
hospitals with emergencies like ectopic pregnancies, ruptured uterus,
people who are bleeding and people with pregnancy complications. And
these women cannot use the staircases to get to the wards. If the
lifts are not working, it means they have to access the lifts in other
departments in order to get to the A-Block and imagine that you need
minutes to intervene to save the lives of these individuals.
Some of the cases that come, we label them as near misses".
Worried Prof
But it appears there is no solution in sight, at least, not
immediately as hospital relies on philanthropists for support.
Head of Technical Services, George Tetteh appealed to government and
philanthropists for support.
"Even though we are trying to maintain them [elevators] by replacing
some faulty parts, when they are replaced, maximum two to three weeks
they break down again and we need to spend money in repairing them".
Mr Tetteh lamented.
Credit: Myjoyonline
