Health officials at the Ga West Municipal hospital in Amasaman are struggling to keep up with the increasing number of cholera patients due to the lack of proper isolation unit at the facility.
The hospital which has so far recorded 68 cases and one death is compelled to put up a makeshift structure made of plywood and material canopy where patients are left under the mercy of the weather.
One of the nurses who spoke to Joy News said due to congestion and lack of ventilation, other patients who are unable to get a bed in the makeshift structure are attended to in wheel chairs and benches outside the building.
According to him, the hospital has run out beds therefore nurses had no choice but to attend to the patients on the benches.
Nurses he said, are forced to discharge patients in order to make room for others to occupy the beds which will be made available.
The Greater Accra Regional Directorate of the Ghana Health Service has declared the current outbreak an epidemic.
Over 3,000 cases have been recorded so far in various health facilities across the region and claiming about 40 lives since June.
In a response to the situation, Public Relations Officer of the Health Ministry, Tony Goodman said nothing can be done about the increasing number of people patronizing the hospitals because a lot more people have failed to take the proper hygienic measures which will prevent them from contracting the disease.
He said the various hospitals have been appropriately equipped to handle the situation but “no matter what we do we have to talk about the way people live and the kind of food they eat” this is the only way the situation can be prevented, he added.
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