The five-member committee probing the death of a two-year-old boy at the Upper West Regional Hospital is expected to submit its report in two weeks.
This was after a meeting with the Upper West Regional Minister, Dr. Hafiz Bin Salih yesterday [Monday] where the committee asked for more time to conclude its investigations.
Two-year-old Ibrahim Shahid was bitten by a snake and reportedly left unattended to due to the inability to obtain a folder at the Hospital. He later died.
Public Relations Officer of the Upper West Regional Coordinating Council, Cletus Azure in a Citi News interview said the committee has been granted an additional two weeks to complete its work.
“The committee has been given two weeks to complete their job and submit their report. They were supposed to submit it yesterday [26th November]. But they came and pleaded for extension to enable them do a thorough job rather than rushing to submit anything. The Regional Minister granted their request and extended the date to 10th of December for the final report.”
Minister orders probe
Dr. Hafiz Bin Salih ordered an immediate probe into the circumstances that led to the death of a two-year-old boy who suffered a snake bite and could not access treatment at the old Upper West Regional Hospital.
The Regional Minister indicated that in order to ensure transparency in the process, the media personnel in the region should appoint one of their members to be part of the committee.
He said very serious punitive actions will be taken against anyone who is found culpable after the investigations.
“If it is indeed true that it was out of negligence that this boy lost his life, punitive actions will be taken. And I am appealing to our media persons here to get me one person here to be part of the committee so that you don’t say that we are hiding certain facts from the public.”
The boy is reported to have been referred from Boli, a community in the Wa municipality to the regional facility.
Upon reaching the hospital, parents of the deceased were asked to go for a folder before treatment could start.
It, however, took more than four hours of waiting before they were allegedly told that those in charge of issuing folders did not report to work.
That seemed to have angered the frustrated parents who decided to resort to traditional treatment at the village.
The incident angered a cross-section of members in the Wa municipality especially an uncle of the two-year-old boy, Salia Abudi, who is calling for heads to roll at the regional hospital.
