By Bertha
Badu-Agyei, GNA
Koforidua, June 20, GNA – The Member of
Parliament for Ledzokuku, Dr Okoe Boye, has called for specialized hospitals in
the country to address the inadequate bed situation in emergency healthcare in
the country
According to Dr Boye, it appeared that all
major hospitals in the country were categorized as general hospitals and that
he said was not helpful adding that “if hundred hospitals are constructed and
all are generalized inadequate beds would still remain a challenge”.
He cited for instance having about a 90
percent bed dedicated for the specialized care such as emergency or maternal
health for effective healthcare delivery was apt adding that “that way focus
would be on the specialized care otherwise once an emergency unit gets full,
people would be turn away and we need to prevent that”
The MP who made the call when he appeared on a
Ghana Television(GTV) talking point programme, on the “Topic Healthcare
Delivery in Ghana said Ghana needs strong medical protocols on emergency
situations.
Referring to recent event where a 70-year old
man, died after being turned away by seven facilities for lack bed, the MP who
is a medical practitioner recounted how two years ago a pregnant woman was
turned away from four facilities because there were no beds and added “there
are many people who have become victims of this no bed syndrome and we need to
address it”
Dr Titus Bayuo, Assistant General Secretary of
the Ghana Medical Association (GMA), on his part called for national referral
guidelines and toll free lines to ensure that well identified persons in
authority referred emergency cases.
He said without any mincing of words that, for
lack of supervision in the health facilities, “people who turn away some of
this emergencies are not identified, so the decision to declare that a bed is
full must be the responsibility of the most senior or in charge of the facility
and not any other”
On the national toll free lines for all
hospitals, he said it would facilitate the processes of referral so that
vacancies at other facilities would be known to ensure that patients were not
just turned away but referred to facilities with the full assurance of vacancy
for prompt response.
He said it was not enough for the Ghana Health
Service to declare that no patient should be turned away for lack of beds
adding that “citizens must question people who are telling us that nobody
should be turn away, on investments they have made in emergency healthcare”.
The Acting General Secretary said “we must as
a nation do away with the bureaucracies and tackle issues with urgency because
treating people on the floor as a norm is against human dignity and certainly
not the way to go”.
GNA