12 babies die at Salaga Hospital

Poor healthcare delivery at the paediatric unit of the Salaga Government Hospital in the East Gonja District of the Northern Region has resulted in the death of 12 babies.

Checks revealed the unit has no bed for patients on admission, and the situation is compelling most patients to sleep on the bare floor after the three beds allocated to the ward by authorities broke down sometime back, with no immediate plans for a replacement.

As a result of the current situation, patients who are admitted either buy rubber mats or mothers of admitted kids would use their clothes as temporary beds for them at the ward for the period they would stay at the facility.

Records available to DAILY GUIDE indicate the unit records the highest number of hospital attendance with about 600 attendances every fortnight, yet little or no attention is paid to it by management who disclosed that the entire hospital is in distress at the verge of collapse.

According to them, healthcare delivery at the facility is gradually grinding to halt as management is inundated with several challenges, including the inadequate number of nurses to meet the growing patient strength at the facility.

It was revealed that there is no resident doctor at the hospital after the only doctor who offered to assist while on leave left the facility a couple of days ago.

This is said to have further compounded the plight of the numerous patients who trek several kilometers to Salaga, the district capital, to seek healthcare.

The hospital’s pharmacy is a shadow of itself with no common consumables, including plaster and paracetamol among others to cater for the health needs of patients.

Authorities blame the situation on the non-payment of National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) claims by the various schemes to the facility since January 2015, which has plunged it into several debts.

Authorities who are reluctant in rendering services to NHIS subscribers disclosed that they were afraid it could further deplete their finances and now prefer relations of patients or the patients themselves buy drugs for treatment.

But residents are worried over the current practice and wondering why they must buy drugs from the open market when they are subscribers to the NHIS.