A 19-year-old level 200 law student at the University of Ghana, Legon, has been reported dead at the Ewim Polyclinic in the Cape Coast Metropolis.
The deceased, Nana Obeng Owusu Junior, purportedly died at about 19:00 hours on Monday after a nurse only recognised as Michael injected the deceased with an unidentified medication, leading to his instant death.
The Ghana News Agency (GNA) visited the facility to validate the claims, but a Nursing Manager and a senior administrator on duty on Saturday, at about 15:30 hours, could neither confirm nor deny the allegation.
“I’m not authorized to speak on issues like this. The right person to answer these claims is not around.
“By the way, who told you? You can come later, I won’t comment,” the administrator said in an apparent astonishment and discomfort.
Nevertheless, recounting the ordeal, the mother of the deceased, Mrs Nelly Mills told the GNA that she took the deceased who was an asthmatic patient to the facility for a nebulizer (a small machine that turns liquid medicine into a mist that can be easily inhaled).
She said on reaching the facility, they went to the pharmacy unit but were directed to the emergency ward, which they obliged.
At the emergency unit, there was a misunderstanding between the deceased and Michael, and that was when Michael, who was irritated by their visit, yelled at them questioning “What you want, what do you want,” as if they were not allowed to visit the facility.
She said “Michael, in a seemingly unhappy voice, as if he was tired of caring for patients, shouted at us, something my son did not take kindly”.
Mrs. Mills said she later left the emergency unit to buy a medication approved by Michael, leaving the deceased in the care of a younger sibling who had accompanied them.
Mrs. Mills said immediately after she left, Michael injected the deceased with an unknown medication without checking his vitals, leading to his death in less than two minutes and left the scene.
Before the injection, Mrs. Mills said the deceased was strongly making jokes with his brother but suddenly fell asleep after taking the injection, but the younger brother felt he was asleep until she returned to realise he was dead.
“I shouted for help repeatedly and called for help, but my son was long dead. Within two minutes after stepping out to buy his medication, my son died, and Michael confirmed he injected him.
“We only needed a nebuliser and not an injection which was written for me to buy, so why the injection? Besides, my son was not seriously ill but suffering from his routine asthma attack,” Mrs Mills said.
She further said the facility refused to release the body to her but swiftly arranged for a hearse and took the body to the University of Cape Coast morgue and embalmed the body without the concern of any family member.
She alleged, “We followed up to the morgue right after only to find out my son has been embalmed without my concern.
“The arrangement made by the hospital makes the death of my son a subject of investigation, and we will not relent to get to the bottom of this matter,” she stated.
Mrs. Mills appealed to the Ghana Health Service and the security agencies to thoroughly investigate the cause of death and ensure that justice was served to the bereaved family.