Dead bodies share ward with patients

Dead bodies are sometimes kept overnight in the ward with inpatients at the Jasikan District Hospital until the bereaved families arrange for them to be sent to the mortuary in Hohoe or Worawora.

This is because the hospital which caters for a district with a population of 65,000 has neither a mortuary nor an ambulance.

Worse still, it has no separate ward for men, women and children, and so all the inpatients share the only general ward with a bed capacity of only 45.

“This does not give the patients privacy and dignity,” said Dr F. Atia, Medical Superintendent in-charge of the facility in an interview with The Ghanaian Times in Jasikan on Friday, prior to the presentation of an ultra-modern X-ray machine to the hospital by the First Lady, Mrs. Lordina Mahama.

According to Dr Atia, the hospital attended to an average of 130 Out Patients Department (OPD) cases daily but lacked adequate space in the various delivery units.

He said sometimes the hospital was compelled to discharge some patients who were still recovering on treatment to make way for more unwell patients.

Dr Atia pointed out that with regards to the population of the district, the staff size of 136 comprising two doctors and 85 nurses was inadequate for an effective healthcare delivery.

Speaking later at the presentation ceremony, the Medical Superintendent revealed that since the facility was upgraded to a district hospital 13 years ago it had not seen any significant infrastructural expansion in its facilities to befit its status.

Dr Atia said that the lack of residential accommodation for the hospital’s critical staff was also not helping its service delivery to the public.

He thanked the First Lady for the donation which he said would help the hospital greatly to improve its radiotherapy services without referring patients to other facilities outside the district and appealed for further assistance from various groups and individuals.