Management of the Komfo Anokye Teaching hospital has appealed to the government to speed up the on-going expansion works at the hospital to ease congestion at the facility.
According to them the uneven nature of the people-to-beds ratio at the hospital is forcing doctors and medical practitioners to treat some of their patients on the floor.
[contextly_sidebar id=”J8lfgH7iuVeYwkFeUIhq6y5v8nLFFNVd”]The Director of Public Affairs at the hospital Dr. Kwame Frimpong, said in an interview with Citi News that the number of people who come to the hospital on a daily basis in addition to patients who are referred for specialist treatment was taking a major toll on the hospital’s facilities.
“It is like a dumping ground for all emergency and other cases that require specialist care. And for a facility of that nature which has not seen any significant expansion since its construction in 1955, definitely there’ll be congestion. We have increasing number of patients but a stagnating space for your operations. In fact some places like the Surgeons and Gynaecology [wards] and other areas.
He added: “The average daily bed occupancy rate is around 160, 165 when the ideal situation is about 80% but you are having an average daily bed occupancy rate of about 160 instead of 80. That alone should tell you how much we are packing patients into the existing space that we have. And that is why it is a common phenomenon to see people lyingon the floor and it is a common sight to see doctors and healthcare workers bending down to attend to attend to patients. That is not an ideal situation.”
Several other hospitals, including the Korle Bu teaching hospital in Accra, have also complained about the limited space in which they have operate.
Last August, the hospital requested that other hospitals stop referring cholera patients there during the deadly outbreak as their staff and resources at the hospital were over stretched and could not possibly admit any more cases.
By: Edwin Kwakofi/citifmonline.com/Ghana