Ghana Health Service disowns injection man

The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has disclosed that the health officer who was involved in administering the contaminated injections that killed three patients of the New Senchi Health Centre in the Asuogyaman District of the Eastern Region was not authorised to carry out the service.

James Yeboah, the health professional who gave the injections, has been identified as a retired staff of the GHS who has had no engagement with the health service for the past six years.

“As a retired staff, he was not authorised to operate in the facility so as to who gave him the permission to be working in the facility, we are yet to find out,” a source at the GHS said.

Confirming the new development to Citi FM, Dr Badu Sarkodie, Director of Public Health Service at the GHS, added that Mr Yeboah was acting illegally as there was no authorisation from the national, regional or district levels to conduct this activity in the facility.

Mr Yeboah, who was arrested along with the manager of the facility, Simon Takeramah, and later granted bail, is being blamed for negligence resulting in the death of a 31-year-old man, a 42-year-old woman and a 78-year-old man on March 26, 2018.

The family member of one of the deceased, Hajia Hawa Amidu, said her 78-year-old uncle reacted terribly to the injection which he had initially objected.

She said her uncle had visited the hospital for treatment of a skin condition and was given the injection by the health officer on duty.

“When he went to take the third [injection], he was telling the [health officer not to do it] but before he could finish telling the man, they injected on the swollen place again. So when they came home, the daughter went to the clinic to go and tell them what happened to the father and they told them to go and come back on Thursday.

But when the man came back, the condition was just deteriorating so they had to take him to Akuse Hospital and he died there,” she revealed.

But preliminary investigations by the Food & Drugs Authority (FDA) indicate that the deaths may have been caused by contaminated medication.

In a release, the FDA after its first inquiry mentioned that the deceased persons suffered adverse reactions, including swelling on the injection site, skin necrosis and ulcers leading to the deaths.

“Preliminary investigations revealed that these reactions may be due to contaminated 0.9% normal saline, the solution which was used to reconstitute (mix) the Benzathine penicillin powder for injection.

The 0.9% normal saline solution was reported to have been opened and used repeatedly for several days which might have resulted in the contamination,” a statement from the FDA explained.

Meanwhile, samples from the deceased patients have also been taken for further investigations at the Noguchi Memorial Institute for medical research.