Nurses at the Accra Psychiatric Hospital have totally withdrawn their services, following the inability of government to provide them with basic logistics for the running of the facility.
The indefinite strike, which began yesterday, is to push government to provide the facility with the basic logistics, including medications for inmates.
According to the health workers, basic consumables like plaster could not be supplied by the health authorities to the facility, exposing the health workers to unwarranted attacks by the inmates who need medications.
The health workers had already withdrawn their services at the out-patient department (OPD) in what they termed, ‘run from danger’ strike, hoping the decision would draw the attention of the authorities to their problems that had persisted for years.
However, their action has failed to produce the needed results, as authorities are yet to address their concerns, leading to the total withdrawal of their services to admitted patients.
The nurses claim the lack of basic logistics puts their lives at risk of being harmed by the patients.
“There is a massive shortage of basic logistics needed to carry out our professional duties such as gloves, spirit, dressing solutions, facemasks, plaster, sterile cotton and gauze, detergents, among others. This exposes the staff and patients to unnecessary risk of cross-infections,” Jamila Hussein, chairperson of the nurses group, said in a release.
They indicated that the decision had become necessary, taking into consideration the fact that the crisis has persisted for many months without any solution in sight.
Dr Adowa Pinaman Apau, director of the hospital, reacting to the decision by the nurses, told a local radio station that the demands of the nurses have been forwarded to the Mental Health Authority for consideration.
However, while the Mental Health Authority is yet to find solutions to the demands of the nurses, patients of the facility have been left in the care of the few doctors at the facility.
“The work place has become increasingly dangerous as a result of the shortage of the medications, among other issues. Staff have been physically attacked on several occasions, meanwhile, under no circumstances were their medical bills catered for by the Mental Health Authority or by management, not to even talk about RISK ALLOWANCE!” Ms Hussein said.
Giving a typical example of the dangers faced by health staff, Philip Frempong Okyere, a member of the group, stated that as a result of the lack of medication, patients are relapsing and becoming more aggressive, posing danger to fellow patients and health staff.
“A female nurse who had just given birth through caesarean was working on one of the observation wards giving food to a patient who did not show any sign of aggressiveness, all of a sudden, the patient used the leg to hit the abdomen causing her to bleed from her incisional side,” he recounted.
Mr Okyere disclosed that many meetings with authorities of the hospital indicate there are no funds to manage the situation.
“They said their only hope is the passage of the IL of the Mental Health Law which will indicate the means to get money for running the facility,” he said.
He stated that the group had asked the nurses stationed at the OPD to join their colleagues at the wards, leaving the doctors to care for out-patients.
Subsequently, the group has resolved not to subject themselves to the danger posed by the patients at the work place as a result of shortage of medications, foods and other logistics.
“In as much as the nurses appreciate the client’s right to access their services, we also have the right to work under safe, satisfactory and healthy conditions, and we shall not position ourselves in any way to compromise on our safety, especially when the situation at hand touches on ‘life and death,” they said.
The Mental Health Authority is yet to respond to the demands of the nurses; patients of the facility have been left in the care of the few doctors at the facility.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri