Sammy Adu Bokaye gives a chilling account of how his mother died at KATH through negligence of duty
Head of programs at Kessben Media and a key stakeholder of Kessben Outreach Foundation, Sammy Adu Boakye has narrated how his mother died at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital through some negligence of some hospital officials.
The veteran media practitioner noted he just cannot afford to keep the experience to himself thus shared the chilling account of how his biological mother had to pass away due to the systematic failures in most institutions in Ghana, especially hospitals.
READ BELOW HIS FULL POST:
This is mum and dad….. married for 43 years ..Mum passed on at Komfo Anokye hospital on no other day but 26th December. Before mum goes home to rest, I have been contemplating whether to keep mute or speak up after her burial.
Still not sure but let me just give a bit of what painful ordeal she had had to go through before her passing…. I am so much pained I feel I must speak but for a moment. As the first son, I wept every day I went to the hospital seeing that strong woman in a helpless state not able to tell me what she’s going through.
Anytime I held her hand she will never let go…. At one point mum had been given some medication she was reacting to which had temporarily affected her kidney/lever and needed dialysis to reverse it. At a point, there was no functional dialysis machine at kath so we had to hire a private ambulance to take her to a private clinic for this to be done.
On the second day after another trip to Asafo Boakye, after the procedure, she experienced a serious drop in BP and had to be rushed in the private ambulance to ICU….She was there for ten days… she was bloating and needed another dialysis to drain the waste but there was non. We were then told that the OPD one was working so we had to take her there. The doctor advised that her situation will not allow her to be moved but rather the machine be moved. Called in some high authorities who intervened n that’s where I learnt that there were two new machines at the same block where mum was but no one knew how to use it or it had not even been used before. What a wow. I pulled further strings and was agreed they bring the opd machine.
My brother was told someone had to undergo dialysis so we wait, he went back to see how far after less than fifteen minutes and they had closed, lights off, office closed, and left. What! Saturday evening so we were told Sunday morning first thing as higher authority assured. Was on air Sunday morning when my brother and sister were there while I was working on radio and tv with virtual church service. 7:30 got a call the team had still not come, doctors were worried and waiting… I closed at half ten getting to kath at 11 am.
We called the team severally with one saying “ the one who has the key says he’s coming and had been calling since 730 to no avail, he said he is coming”. At 12 he had still not shown up, was told by the doctor mum could suffer a cardiac arrest n must be fast as if I was bringing the machine. Ten minutes after going back to the icu, I was prevented cuz mum had suffered a cardiac arrest. Saw Eva praying and crying for the first time n that’s where I realised it was getting out of hand….
I stood watching resuscitation efforts after thirty minutes and then saw all machines being disconnected. Francis stood by praying and hoping mum would come back even after one hour …, couldn’t stand it any longer n had to leave in tears. If it’s today the guy with the hospital key to the dialysis room will show up… we don’t know. In my tears, I heard someone say..,,
“So if the Sammy Adu Boakye who has done so much for the hospital n whose sister is a doctor at kath could be treated like this….. what of me?”.Do not be too surprised.., the next episode will shock u. If I don’t speak up who will?
