The La General Hospital in Accra has been forced to convert its Out Patient Department (OPD) into a cholera unit as high number cases of the illness overwhelms the hospital.
However, the move is not helping the situation.
Health officials at the hospital are turning away patients due to lack of space to attend to the more than 170 cases of the contagious cholera disease.
Five people have so far died from the disease at the hospital in one week.
Joy News’ Michaela Anderson, who visited the hospital Tuesday, said patients who do not want to go home have been waiting outside the OPD in the hope of being recalled.
Administrator at the hospital, Philip Afeti Korto, told Joy News the facility is doing its best to contain the situation.
‘We have received about 171 cases as at today [Tuesday] from the time it startedabout a week or two ago. The cases are coming I think from Teshie, Nungua and La communities’, said Mr Korto.
He said some of the cholera cases come as first point of call cases, while others are referrals from other hospitals.
Michaela reports that a number of patients were lying on the benches, others on their beds with drips on them as dozens of doctors flood the OPD to attend to them.
Mr Korto says his hospital is on top of the issue.
‘We are managing with the resources that we have. And I don’t think that the situation is [beyond control]’, he assured.
He however advised the public to observe personal hygiene practices by washing their hands frequently, and abstain from eating cold foods.
Cholera is an acute diarrhoea illness caused by bacteria called ‘Vibrio cholera’.
The illness can result in a profound and rapidly progressive dehydration and death. An untreated person may produce 10-20 litres of faecal matter a day with fatal results.
[GN]
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