By Charles Neequaye, Journalist
It is said that human lives are precious, no matter the circumstances or conditions. Doing something untoward or negative to facilitate the injury or death of any person, be it normal or mentally deranged, is wicked and callous and needs to be condemned in no uncertain terms. Even the Holy Scripture frowns on such unhealthy practices against mankind by unconscionable and wicked people and institutions. The Almighty God detests attempts to place innocent people in debilitating conditions, leading to their unfortunate death. It is wicked in the eyes of God.
Unfortunately, in modern-day Ghana, some people and institutions have thrown sympathy and human feelings to the dogs and are rather engaged in callous, wicked, and unconscionable practices aimed at causing the death of fellow humans in situations that can be easily avoided.
The incident of an alleged discharge and transport of an accident patient, who was reportedly suffering from suspected mental illness or dementia, and abandoning her by the roadside near a bush at the outskirts of Gomoa Ojobi in the Central Region, leading to her death a week later, has sparked a crunch meeting at the Trauma and Specialist Hospital in the region and generated a lot of controversy among Ghanaians, especially in the media.
The unfortunate incident has led to a public discussion, with many asking for the full facts of the incident and appropriate sanctions applied to those involved. The patient, an old woman, per media reports, died last Monday, June 10, 2024, a week after she had been abandoned at the roadside near a bush. Eyewitness accounts indicate that a staff member of the hospital was seen removing the old woman from an ambulance and dumping her by the roadside. She died a week after hanging and lying at the spot she was reportedly dumped.
According to sources, the woman, who was reportedly suffering from mental illness or dementia, was involved in an accident and was taken to the Winneba Trauma and Specialist Hospital for medical attention. She stayed in the hospital for about two months, together with other accident victims. While all the other accident victims had their relatives visiting them, taking care of them, and sending them home after they were discharged, the old woman never received a visitor and no family member ever showed up to visit her.
After gaining consciousness, the woman indicated that she was from Gomoa Ojobi in the Central Region. She could not give the hospital further information about herself to assist in tracing her relatives. It is alleged that when the hospital authorities became fed up with her, because they claimed she screamed at night and disturbed other patients and staff, they decided to go out to search for her relatives. They took her along in an ambulance and at the outskirts of Gomoa Ojobi, they dumped her by the roadside, leading to her untimely death a week later.
When the news was published in the media, the management of the hospital denied any knowledge of the incident. It is unfortunate that such a wicked and callous situation should happen at no less a place than a public hospital, with the authorities claiming they have no knowledge about how the old woman was abandoned.
Has the medical staff the right to abandon the woman, or what motivated the staff to carry out such a wicked and unconscionable act? Who ordered her discharge and subsequent dumping? Is it the case that the hospital operates in a vacuum and therefore the staff can just stand up and do what they like or deem fit, without any prior approval from the hospital authorities? Even if the old woman’s relatives did not show up while on admission at the hospital as was alleged, what prevented the authorities from referring the case to the Social Welfare Department to handle the situation, rather than carrying her in an ambulance and dumping her at the outskirts along the roadside at Gomoa Ojobi, only for her to die?
These are some of the questions that demand answers from the hospital authorities. Such situations bring into question the lack of protection and adherence to human rights principles in Ghana in the eyes of the international community. That is why Parliament, as a noble and august institution of state, needs to step in and summon the hospital authorities to explain the circumstances leading to such a heinous and dastardly act.
It also brings into question our community love, support, sympathy, and the desire to help each other in times of difficulties, as in the story of the good Samaritan, and our patriotism in general. Sympathy and human feeling are sine qua non, and we should learn to accommodate every person in this country, no matter his or her health status, mental condition, creed, or ethnic background.
