The deceased’s NHIS card
It is alleged that the negligence of some nurses on duty at the Koforidua Regional Hospital in the Eastern Region has caused the death of a 21-year-old pregnant woman and her triplets.
The deceased, Sodzi Prisca, who stayed in Suhum with her family, was admitted at the Suhum Government Hospital last Thursday while in labour, but due to her condition, she was referred to the Regional Hospital for further examination and assistance.
DAILY GUIDE gathered that oxygen and intravenous infusion were ministered onto her before she was rushed to the theater to undergo an operation after falling from a stretcher.
She was pronounced dead after delivering the triplets [two boys and a girl] who also died instantly.
It is unclear what led to the deaths of the young lady and her three babies, as the hospital was yet to disclose what happened.
But Afi Alato, sister in-law of the deceased who was with her at the hospital, accused the nurses of negligence as they did not attend to the late Prisca when her condition became worse.
Narrating the incident to DAILY GUIDE, Ms Afi Alato said, “Prisca was complaining that her vagina was paining her severely and was struggling on the bed, while oxygen and intravenous infusion had been placed on her nose and the left hand respectively.”
Afia said her sister in-law was screaming and so she rushed to the nurses at about 11 pm on Thursday to complain about Prisca’s situation.
She continued, “When I got to them, some of the nurses were browsing and others were watching TV. They didn’t pay attention to me until one of them told me to go back and pack her things for her to be sent to the theater. When I returned my brother’s wife was in pains so she fell from the bed, landed on the floor and knelt down.
“In the process, the oxygen and the intravenous infusion got off and she started breathing uncontrollably as blood was oozing from her private parts. So I took a piece of tissue paper to clean the blood while one of the nurses who later came over was standing looking at me helplessly.
Afia, a nursing mother, said that at 12:00 am the nurses told her that the lady had delivered three bouncing babies, but they died instantly.
She underscored that she was asked to go home and come back and that upon her return at 4:30 am on Friday, she was told that the triplet’s mother couldn’t survive.
The frustrated husband of the deceased, Samuel Alato Mawuli, who is crying for justice, told this paper that he contacted the hospital authorities to ascertain the cause of his wife’s death.
He was only asked to pay GH¢700 for the hospital to perform an autopsy before the body would be released.
DAILY GUIDE’s attempts to get the Koforidiua Regional Hospital authorities to react to the family’s allegations proved futile.
Dr. Kwame Anim Boamah, the Medical Superintendent, was called via telephone but he didn’t pick the calls.
In a WhatsApp message sent to his cell phone, he only replied, “Please come to the office on Monday after 11:00 am. Thank you.”
This paper visited the hospital with intent to speak to one of the senior midwives, called Mrs Mireku, but it proved futile.
FROM Daniel Bampoe, Koforidua