About 181 people lost their lives as a result of suffering from Cerebrovascular Accident also known as stroke in 2016 at the Eastern Regional Hospital in Koforidua.
Stroke, which topped the top 20 causes of death at the Hospital with HIV/AIDS, Chronic liver Cirrhosis, other heart diseases, pneumonia, birth Asphyxia, premature births, kidney diseases, septicemia, and prostate cancer had a 1.2 percent increase from the year 2015 where 163 people died from it.
This was made known at an annual management review meeting held at the Regional Hospital.
In an interview with Citi News the medical director in-charge of the Regional hospital, Dr Kwame Anim- Boamah said the rate at which stroke is taking the lives of Ghanaians is very alarming, he said ” stroke which is part of the silent killers is gradually becoming a cancer in our country, the main pre-disposing factors are diabetes, hypertension and high blood cholesterol. If one has these sickness it does not show up early, it takes a long time before it starts showing symptoms.”
He added “there are a lot of people with such conditions walking and going around their duties and the only way you can know is regularly visiting the hospital and have your pressure checked.
He further stated that the trend which used to have older people being prone to stroke is gradually changing, he said “at first we used to have people above 50 and 60 years suffering from stroke but now you will see a 30-years-old with stroke.”
Dr Kwame Anim- Boamah advised the general public to regularly visit the Hospital for check-ups ” you should not visit the hospital only when you are sick but Ghanaians should make it as part of our culture to frequently visit hospitals and request that lab’s and other medical procedures including glucose check-ups are done on them to be on the safer side.”
He explained further “if you are diagnosed of any of these diseases you should know they are chronic diseases that you would have to manage for the rest of your life so you need to comply, take your medications at the appropriate times and always attend follow-up visit and it will help you live your life well.”
He cautioned those diagnosed of hypertension and diabetes to strictly adhere to advice given by only professional doctors in other not to complicate matters, he said” people always do what they like, they ignore our counsel and listen to friends and relatives who gives them concoctions which at the long run turns to give them complications.”
Dr Kwame Anim- Boamah allayed fears of the collapse of the NHIS at the Hospital when Citi News asked if NHIS card bearers are being turned away.
“We do not turn away NHIS clients, the scheme is in operations here and we even encourage our clients who are not registered to go and do so because it reduces their cost when they are admitted but I must say we have been reimbursed from January 2016 to March 2016 and we pray the National Health Insurance Authority pays us because we have been running the Hospital on internally generated funds and also on the good will of our suppliers who have been very understanding.”
The remaining 10 of the top 20 causes of death at the Eastern Regional hospital in Koforidua are Septic Shock, Hepatic Encephalopathy, Breast cancer, Head injury, Neonatal Sepsis, Tuberculosis, Sickle cell, Eclampsia and Meningitis.
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By: Neil Nii Amatey Kanarku/citifmonline.com/Ghana
