At the children’s ward of the Bimbilla Government Hospital in the Nanumba North Municipality of the Northern Region, some sick children are forced to share beds due to inadequate beds as huge numbers patronize the facility.
Much worse for other children, they had to receive treatment on the bare floor of the hospital.
The Bimbilla Government Hospital serves the Nanumba North Municipality, the Nanumba South District and also receives referral cases from the Kpandai and Zabzugu Districts.
The health centre was upgraded to a District hospital to address the many health challenges in the area.
But a visit to the hospital reveals a rather worrying situation.
The issue of no beds has forced authorities at the hospital to make adjustments in the children’s ward leaving the place crowded. Some children are on the bare floor with mats brought from home by their parents or caretakers.
Some parents are concerned their children may contract other ailments before they leave the hospital.
Some staff of the hospital who spoke to Citi News confirmed that congestion is indeed a major challenge for them.
Others who visit the facility from outside Bimbilla town have had to spread their clothes on the bare floor for their sick children.
“I am afraid that my child could contract different sickness here because we are sharing the same bed with others and I do not know the kind of sickness they have” a worried mother complained.
“We came and the nurses here told me that the beds are full, so they put a mattress on the floor and that is where my child is being attended to. People are walking in between us, the ground is not good but can we do, I need to treat my child.”
No bathrooms
The washrooms of the hospital are also not in the best of conditions as mothers bath their sick babies in the open on the grasses.
“There are no washrooms here and therefore we bath our children in the open. We put them on grasses and bath them. Even no toilet facilities so a child wants to defecate, what we do is to find a polyethylene bag for him which we throw into the bush.”
Hospital officials told Citi News because malaria is easily contracted around this season, many children brought to the hospital are mostly referrals from the various CHPS compounds across the municipality and other surrounding districts.
They thus appealed to government and other civil society organizations to come to the aid of the hospital.
This is a widespread problem in most health facilities across the country, including the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.
The no-beds syndrome has left healthcare providers with no option but to treat emergency cases on the floor or chairs in some cases.
This is after the death of 70-year-old man who was turned away by seven hospitals over a lack of beds prompted the Ghana Health Service to direct that emergency cases be treated regardless of the medical logistics.
Citi FM, OccupyGhana petition Nana Addo over ‘health crisis’
Citi FM and OccupyGhana have petitioned President Nana Akufo-Addo to demand the operationalization of all newly built but abandoned healthcare facilities.
The petitioners are also pushing for a comprehensive Emergency Response System (ERS) in Ghana.
The two petitioners contend that the matters at hand have “reached a crisis point.”
“The matters now require drastic measures, one of which is our request herein that the President takes urgent steps to operationalise the facilities and institute the ERS throughout Ghana.”
They urged the president to “put in place and publish a clear road-map with timelines for addressing the matters.”
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By: Mohammed Aminu M Alabira/citinewsroom.com/Ghana
