The Medical Superintendent in charge of the LEKMA Hospital, Dr. Juliana Ameh, was summoned by the Director-General of the Ghana Health Service on Monday.
This is after a 70-year-old man, Prince Anthony Opoku-Acheampong, reportedly died in his car at the LEKMA Hospital at Teshie, after seven hospitals turned him away over claims there were no beds.
The LEKMA hospital was the seventh hospital to turn away the Late Prince Anthony Opoku Acheampong after his family drove nearly two hours in search of medical care.
Dr. Ameh’s summons, Citi News understands is to aid investigations into the matter.
The deceased’s family started searching for a hospital for him at 11:00 pm on June 2, travelling for about 46 kilometres in total, across the seven hospitals, till he eventually died at around 3:30 am.
The first hospital Prince Anthony Opoku-Acheampong and his family went to before he died was a private facility, C&J Medicare Hospital.
Over there, a nurse confirmed that Prince Anthony needed to be hospitalized after a brief assessment, but said the hospital could not cater for them.
From there, the family moved on to the Korle Bu Polyclinic, Ridge Hospital, Police Hospital, the Trust Hospital, the La Polyclinic, before finally arriving at the LEKMA Hospital at Teshie, where he eventually died.
The Ghana Health Service Director-General, Dr. Anthony Nsiah-Asare, said the Service was first going to set up an investigative Committee to probe the incident.
The tragic death was a failure of the emergency healthcare system, he said.
“We will get to the depth of this issue and make sure this doesn’t happen again in this country of ours,” Dr. Anthony Nsiah-Asare assured on the Citi Breakfast Show.
A number of Ghanaians have over the years given accounts similar to the incident that led to Prince Anthony Opoku-Acheampong’s death.
But Dr. Nsiah-Asare said this latest death could be the last if adequately addressed.
“This is going to be used as something which we are going to use as a springboard to stop this once and for all… Under no circumstance should an emergency case enter any place and you say that there is no bed so the patient should remain in the car. It doesn’t happen anywhere” he stated.
credit: modernghana.com