Hospitals are places for curing sickness and ensuring the good welfare of patients, but the case of a 63-year-old man at Ankaful Government Hospital in Cape Coast in the Central Region is shockingly the opposite.
James Egan was discharged with several bruises and scratches on his hands and other parts of the body even though such was not the situation when he was admitted on May 1, 2019.
James was admitted for stress management and was discharged on Monday, June 3, 2019, but with scratches and bruises on his body.
The family of the victim who were dismayed by the bruises on the body of their relative are calling on the authorities of the Ankaful Government Hospital to investigate and bring the perpetrators to book.
Daughter Helena Davis, who narrated the father’s ordeal on Onua FM’s Yen Sempa, explained that her father looked healthier when he was admitted at the hospital than when he was discharged.
“He was discharged without any prior notice to us and that was strange,” she explained.
“I was at work when my aunt informed me of my father’s admission at Ankaful Hospital. So I went to visit him on the Saturday of his admission. When I went, I told [hospital authorities] I wanted to see Mr. Egan and we were offered seats and they went in to bring him”.
She added that “he was limping when they were bringing him. I noticed my father wasn’t able to walk like how he used to,” Helena told Yen Sempa host Bright Kwasi Asempa.
“I asked why he was brought here and I was told because of stress management. He was under stress so they will manage him.
“I didn’t notice anything of that sort was wrong with him when I spoke to him, but I said well, it’s their line of work so I asked them to excuse us so I can speak with my father,” Mrs. Davis narrated in Fante punctuated with English.
She said “as I was chatting with my father, I noticed when I ask him a question, he doesn’t talk. He tries to speak but he is not able to. I was feeling bad when I was leaving so I asked how he was doing, because I noticed his whole body was swollen. I was told the swollenness had even reduced”.
“He is not talking so what do we do? They said they have noticed he doesn’t speak but speaks once in a while. So I asked them if they hear him when he speaks and they said yes. But I told them when I brought him here, he wasn’t like that”.
“Because he wasn’t able to speak, we decided to bid him farewell and leave. I stopped to speak to some nurses when we were leaving and I saw my father stand up and move towards us. I noticed he wanted to say something to me but he wasn’t able to speak”.
Mrs. Davis explained that “last week Sunday, I decided to go and visit him and prepared him food. I asked how he was doing but he still couldn’t walk. He was brought in a wheelchair and when I asked a question, he doesn’t speak but he was dressed nicely”.
“I noticed his eye was bruised when I looked at it. I asked my father if he fell but he didn’t speak. When I ask him anything, he doesn’t speak,” she continued.
She said her father was discharged on Monday, June 3, 2019, without her notice and videos of her father’s bruised body were sent to her via Whatsapp by a relative after he was discharged.
“When I asked the hospital what happened to my father, they told me my father fell [down] resulting in the bruises,” she explained.
When Onua FM contacted the hospital, the Acting Director, Dr. Kwakwo Marfo Obeng, said he had no knowledge of the allegation.
He therefore directed the family to lodge a complaint at the hospital for needed action to be taken.
Apologies
Mrs. Davis after lodging a complaint to the authorities said they have apologized to her and the family while the workers at the health department have been queried.
By Kweku Antwi-Otoo|3news.com|Ghana