MP calls for specialized hospitals to address emergency healthcare

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”.