A team of physicians and public health doctors at the 37 Military Hospital is investigating the outbreak of a strange diarrhoea disease, which has resulted in a number of deaths at the hospital.
The disease has also been reported at the Police Hospital. The cases, which were discovered two weeks ago following the nurses' strike, are not those normally associated with cholera. This came to light during a tour of the two hospitals by Mr. Samuel Nuamah Donkor, Minister of Health to assess the situation, following the influx of patients to the hospitals in the wake of the strike action by junior nurses in public hospitals.
The Minister presented medical supplies, including anti-malaria drugs, infusion fluids and syringes worth over 32 million cedis to the 37 hospital. A similar donation worth 30 million cedis has already been made to the Police hospital as part of measures to replenish depleted supplies.
Dr D. A. Twum, Commanding Officer of the 37 Hospital, declined to give the number of deaths so far from the strange disease but said, "quite a number of people have died". He said, "the disease represented 30 per cent of all the cases, which came in during the two week period". The Commanding Officer said they do not know the cause and have already reported the outbreak to the regional health authorities. He also appealed to all health workers to stop strike actions and take the interest of the public into consideration. He expressed the hope that a permanent solution would be found to industrial disputes.
Dr Twum said: "the cost to patients lives can never be measured in such situations."
At the Police Hospital, Dr Ernest Owusu Afriyie, Deputy Commissioner of Police and Medical Director, called for a mechanism to avert such situations. He said their facilities have been over stretched and disclosed that some doctors collapsed at the theatres and have not been able to report to work because of the workload. At the various wards, including those of maternity and emergency, there were a number of patients lying in the corridors because the main wards were full.
Mr. Nuamah Donkor congratulated personnel of the two facilities for helping out and said their supplies would have to be adjusted because of the strange diarrhoea case, which has further depleted their resources. He stressed that no group should use patients as their bargaining chips for better conditions.
