Medical And Dental Council To Investigate 2 Year Old’s Neglectful Death

The Medical and Dental Council of Ghana has indicated it will investigate the harrowing story of the two year old boy who died of snake bite at the Upper West regional Hospital because he wouldn’t be given emergency treatment.

Registrar of the Council, Dr. Eli Atikpui, has said an investigation would be launched immediately a complaint is filed as the lodgment of a complaint is a required part of its standard operation procedure.

“I am not sure whether a doctor was directly involved or whether there was a physician assistant or a certified registered anesthetist that was involved. So we our act that established the Medical and Dental Council, a complaint would have to be made to the Medical and Dental Council, we will go into the process of investigation and then go to the final determination the case,” Dr. Atikpui said on Accra based 3 fm this morning.

The case of the hapless two year old has caused anger around the country. He was said to have been bitten by a snake on a farm at Bole, leading to him being rushed to the Upper West regional Hospital for Emergency treatment.

However, when he and his carrier reached the Hospital, they were required to get his folder. The folder office was however empty because nobody was on duty.

Requests for the boy to be given treatment so that the folder issue could be sorted out later went unheeded with the staff there insisting that he secures the folder first.

Abandoned to the poisonous snake poison in his vein, he soon died in a clear case of wrongful death due to deliberate negligence.

Salia Abudu, the eye witness who had rushed the boy to the hospital narrates what happened. “Nobody was in the folders’ office and they were insisting that without the folder, they can’t do anything. We insisted but they were not in agreement with us. And getting to 4 thereabout, we saw it was becoming unnecessary so we rushed inn to find out from the officers who are already working. They said we should come out and wait for the officers to come and give us the folders. We said the folders officers nobody is even in the room.”

The incident has sparked serious anger all over the country and brought to the fore again, a very wicked, neglectful attitude of Ghanaian nurses and doctors, whose neglect over the years have led to the wrongful death of many patients.

The Medical Council’s position means the family has to lodge an official complaint with it first before it can start an investigation, it is not clear if the distraught family will be able to do that. Even so, many around the country are expecting a bunch of doctors, nurses and ancillary staff at the Upper West regional Hospital to be fired and prosecuted for wrongful death or manslaughter.