Ridge Hospital Unsafe For Pre-Mature Babies

By Sedi Bansah

The Ridge Hospital in Accra is yet to recover over GH¢20, 000.00 of the tax payers’ money spent on procuring a Blood Gas Analyzer which has never worked consistently for a week since it was procured in June, 2010.

The equipment is very vital for the running of the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) where urgency is attached for the management of patients in critical conditions.

Documents available to The Herald reveal that early this year, the head of the Anaesthesia Department, Dr. Evans Atito-Narh, dispatched a memo to the Medical Director of the hospital, Dr. E. Apori Obeng, lamenting about the bad state of the medical equipment and the urgent need for it to be replaced or the cost refunded to the hospital.

“The Anaesthesia Department has observed with great concern that since the supply and installation of the Blood Gas Analyzer by Hanisa, it has never worked consistently for one week.

“Even though several repairs have been carried out on the machine by Hanisa, the machine does not seem to function properly.

“… under the circumstances, we wish to suggest that Hanisa be contacted to either replace the machine or refund the full cost of the machine to the hospital if possible,” said Dr. Atito-Narh in his memo to the Medical Director, dated January 19, 2011.

Acting on the memo, Dr. Apori, on January 24, 2011, wrote to Hanisa to replace the machine “as a matter of urgency to ensure uninterrupted service.”

However, five clear months into the year (2011), Hanisa is yet to replace the machine which plays an important role in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

Coincidentally, Dr. Obeng hysterically sees The Herald’s attempt to have this vital equipment replaced by the health authorities to prevent avoidable deaths at the hospital, as an indictment on his performance as head of the state institution.

The Herald has gathered that the absence of the machine at the ICU is posing a lot of challenges to the provision of health care at the unit.

When The Herald talked to Dr. Obeng on the issue, he casually said that the hospital may be receiving a new Blood Gas Analyzer very soon, without indicating time.

Meanwhile, details emerging suggest that the cost of the Blood Gas Analyzer might have been inflated by the suppliers. Checks done by The Herald on a similar equipment manufactured by German company Bayer, puts the prices between $2,500 and $8,500.

The Herald has started looking into the procurement procedure to determine whether due process was followed.

Readers will recall that, a month ago, The Herald published a story on the state of the Blood Gas Analyzer, which has become a white elephant at the Ridge Hospital since its acquisition in May 2010.

The Blood Gas Analyzer, The Herald has gathered, is a machine used in diagnosing and evaluating respiratory diseases and conditions that influence how effectively the lungs deliver oxygen to and eliminate carbon dioxide from the blood.

It is said to be very useful for monitoring patients on oxygen, for example, premature infants with lung disease, so that the lowest possible inhaled oxygen concentration can be used to maintain the blood oxygen pressure at a level that supports the patient.

Among other things, the machine is said to be able to determine whether a patient in critical condition will certainly die or live, and in the latter situation, it (Blood Gas Analyzer) will prescribe the necessary medication that will revive the patient, thus saving the doctor the problem of trial and error. Attachments: