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| The deceased, Cynthia, with the husband, Bernard, during their traditional marriage ceremony held 6 months before her death |
When
Cynthia Nuworsu, an expectant mother, went to the Madina Polyclinic to give
birth, it was the hope of her husband and the children that the family would welcome
its seventh member, but that was not to be as both mother and child died.
The
sudden death of the expectant mother together with her unborn baby at the
Madina (Kekle) Polyclinic has set the widower, Bernard Otu (a driver and a
native of Odumase-Krobo) and the medical officers of the clinic on a collision
course.
The
aggrieved husband is threatening to travel the full length to seek justice for
what he described as professional negligence on the part of the officers.
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| The deceased, Cynthia Nuworsu |
He
said the circumstance surrounding the death of his 38-year-old wife- a trader
and a mother of four- smacks of unprofessionalism that should not pass without
thorough investigation, if the precious lives of pregnant women who also intend
to give birth in the facility were to be saved.
“The
events that led to the death of my otherwise hale and hearty wife smacks of
carelessness that must be of great concern to the public and women in
particular”, he told these reporters.
Post
mortem
A
post mortem report from the Police Hospital, dated June 24, 2015, stamped and
signed by one Dr. L. Edusei indicated that Cynthia died of “breeched presentation”
and a “ruptured uterus during labour”.
According
to medical experts, while ruptured uterus is a tear or explosion of the uterus,
breeched presentation is a childbirth in which the baby exits the pelvis with
the buttocks, feet or any other part of the body as opposed to the normal
head-first presentation.
These
followed an induced labour and nearly 24 hours of labour characterized by
profuse bleeding.
Turned
away
Narrating
the events that led to his wife’s death, Mr. Out indicated that his partner,
who had had her antenatal care at the Polyclinic, was invited on Wednesday June
17, 2015 by officials of the clinic to be delivered of her baby, having been
put on a waiting list for delivery due to the lack of beds in the maternity
ward of the facility.
On
her arrival at the clinic around 5pm on that day, Cynthia (who until then was
going about her normal activities), underwent an inducement and could be heard
screaming from the ward around 8pm when he (the husband) arrived at the clinic.
Mr.
Otu said he requested to see the wife, thinking his presence could soothe the
pain or at least make him sure of her condition but he was prevented from
entering the ward.
He
said, he made three subsequent attempts but they also yielded no result.
Angered and frustrated, he returned home, which was just across the walls of
the hospital, until around 7am on Thursday June 18, 2015 when he showed up
again and requested that his wife should be transferred from the clinic to a hospital
due to the prolong labour, but his request was rejected.
He
made a return to the facility again around 10am with same request but his
wishes were not granted; instead, he was given the assurance by one Hajia, a
nurse, that the wife was going to deliver.
Indecisiveness
According
to Mr. Otu, he returned home only to receive a call around mid-day that
complications had set in and the wife was going to be transferred to the Alpha
hospital, also in Madina. He was later told the pain had aggravated and Cynthia
was going to be sent to the Ridge hospital instead.
While
on his way to the Ridge Hospital amidst anxiety, another call came through
informing him that the wife had delivered at the Polyclinic. He returned around
1:30pm anxious to see the wife and the newborn but he was not given access
because the nurses claimed the two were being given preliminary postnatal
attention.
“I
waited with bated breath until around 4:30 when I was invited into a meeting
during which the Ag. Medical Officer, one Dr. Selorm Botchwey, surrounded by
about six other nurses, broke the sad news of my wife’s death to me”.
According
to him, his checks indicated that no effort was made at all to transfer the
wife to the Alpha and Ridge hospital as he was earlier made to believe.
The
corpse which was still heavy with the foetus (after nearly 24 hours of labour) was
handed over to him and the family around 6pm with an accompanying note for a
post mortem at the 37 Military Hospital.
They
were however turned away on arrival at 37, compelling them to deposit the remains
at the Police Hospital where an autopsy was later conducted on Wednesday June
24, 2015.
When
contacted, the Acting Medical Officer of the Polyclinic refused to give details
except to say “the Regional Health Director is better positioned to comment on
the issue”.
Efforts
by these reporters to talk to the Regional Health Director have since yielded
no result”.
A
visit to the office on January 14 and three phone calls subsequently to the
secretary of the Regional Director were only met with “she is not around. She
has not given me any date to call you”.
Medical negligence in Ghana
Allegations
of professional negligence in Ghanaian hospitals are not new.
April
2010
A
couple who lost their child through what they term “medical malpractice and
professional negligence” demanded GHC 2 million compensation from the Lister
Hospital and Fertility Center where the baby died.
Mr.
Thomas Vaah and Elizabeth Vaah, who work with the United Nations and World Bank,
respectively, plan to use the money as seed money for a foundation they have
formed in memory of their late son to provide assistance for parents who undergo
a similar ordeal.
The
traumatised parents accused the hospital of “gross unprofessional conduct”
which led to the death of Nyilale Vaah Junior, who was delivered on Tuesday
March 9, 2012; almost 17 hours after Mrs. Vaah had been admitted and had
received virtually no attention from healthcare professionals at the hospital.
The
hospital’s management, however, denied the allegation.
May
2010
The
husband of a 28-year-old woman, Dzifa Agboforti, alleged that unprofessional
conduct of nurses of the Ketu South District Hospital at Aflao in the Volta
Region resulted in the death of his wife and newborn baby.
Mr.
Simon Ackumey said his wife reported to the health facility at about 8 a.m on
April 8, 2010 to deliver but the nurses cared little about her presence.
Mr.
Ackumey said the following day, the nurses asked his wife to move to another
bed despite her plea that she was about to deliver.
He
said when the wife got up and walked toward the bed, the baby dropped on the
floor, compelling the nurses to rush to pick him and resuscitate him but he
died two hours later.
November
2010
A
young couple whose twin babies died during delivery at the Tema General
Hospital on November 3, 2010 accused the Hospital of “murder” through
negligence.
According
to them, the two girls could have survived if nurses and doctors on duty had
been more responsible and professional in attending to them.
March
2014
The
family of 24-year-old pregnant lady at Laterbiokorhsie, a suburb of Accra
accused authorities of the Korle-Bu Polyclinic of negligence, causing her
death.
Abigail
Boateng was almost three months pregnant when she died at the polyclinic on
March 2, 2014.
NB: Story by Henking A. Adjase-Kodjo and Seth J. Bokpe
Henking
is a journalist (an activist writer) and a blogger and can be reached via
klonobi2007@gmail.com. You can follow him on twitter with the handle
@henkingklonobi. Don't hesitate to leave the writer a comment on the story
read.
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| The story as captured in the front page of The Mirror newspaper, Fri Jan 29- Feb 4, 2016 |
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| Front page of The Mirror newspaper, Fri Jan 29- Feb 4, 2016 |
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| Page 3 of the newspaper |
