How Nsawam Hospital paid GH¢290,000 judgement debt for removal of a patient's womb without her consent

The Auditor General has recommended that the Ministry of Health considers a liability insurance policy for all medical practitioners and facilities against medical negligence claims.

This is contained in the Auditor General’s report for 2021 which indicates that the Nsawam Government Hospital lost GH¢290,030.00 through a judgement debt.

According to the report, the hospital failed to ensure due diligence by undertaking a surgery involving the removal of a patient’s womb without her consent.

“We noted that there was a lack of due care in the processes before undertaking a surgery involving the removal of the womb of a patient without her consent or the consent of a relative leading to her death. We further noted because of the negligence, a judgement debt of GH¢290,030.00 was paid by the Hospital,” the report stated.

The payment per details of the report was made in two parts with GH¢50,000.00 being paid to one Fred Atiso while the remaining GH¢240,000.00 was paid to the Judicial Service.

The A-G, therefore, recommended that “the Ministry of Health should consider a medical liability insurance policy for all medical practitioners and facilities against medical negligence claims for practitioners and Hospitals to cure the payment of judgement debts by the facilities.”

The report by the Auditor General among other things highlighted various infractions on public accounts of the government of Ghana involving Ministries, Departments and other Agencies (MDAs) for the year in review.

At the Lawra Municipal Hospital, the report stated that “drugs worth GH¢16,189.88 received from the Pharmacy store could not be accounted for by way of records to show quantities received, issues made to patients as well as the balance.”

Other incidents uncovered in the report involving other health facilities include double payment of salary and allowances, revenue unaccounted for as well as missing store items.

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