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Patients admitted to the Sandema district hospital in the northern Builsa district of the Upper East region do not receive care from nurses, midwives and medical assistants after the nationwide strike declared by their various associations.
The Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA) and its allied groups, including the Ghana Nurse Practitioners Association and the Ghana Society of Nurse-Midwives Specialists, are demanding better conditions of service from the government and hope that the strike force the government to heed their demand.
The Ghana News Agency (GNA) visited the hospital to determine the impact of the industrial action by the main critical personnel in the health system, it observed that there was no nurse or midwife in all the wards and in the Outpatient Department (OPD).
Ms. Elizabeth Anokato, who was at the OPD hoping to receive care from nurses before seeing a medical assistant, was disappointed and quietly left the OPD when she was informed about the strike.
In the pediatric ward, which had about eight children on admission, there were no nurses to care for the children, a father, Peter Akanba, whose son was on admission, told GNA in an interview that
“My son had an accident last night and we brought him here, unfortunately this morning they told me the nurses are on strike, I am confused and helpless.
The child is in pain. Looking at the way patients lie helpless without care, the government should listen to the plight of the nurses so they can go back to work to help us, “he added.
In the three-bed emergency room, which had two patients at the time of the visit, Mr. Elijah Atamale, who was admitted, said: “I was admitted last night, but then they told me that the nurses will go on strike today. When it was 8:00 am, all the night nurses left ”.
“Since they left, we have been lying here without a care, not knowing if a doctor or a nurse will come. Whatever their demands, I pray that the government listens to them so that they return. “
The situation in the male medical and surgical wards was no different, the wound dressing procedures usually occupied in the surgical ward were not considered as lying patients with bare wounds.
Despite the fact that no patient received oxygen and nasogastric tubes in the adult wards, most of them, especially in the male medical wards, had a urethral catheter, while in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), out of every five babies , two were in critical condition. condition with oxygen machines placed on them.
GRNMA District President, Ms. Zenabu Zimi, visited all units of the hospital to ensure that none of its members were available to provide care.
She told the GNA in an interview that the government had taken them for granted for too long.
“We feel bad for not doing our usual duties as nurses and midwives. The government has to listen to us, can you imagine the kind of work we do, we change patients’ diapers and bandage their wounds daily and in the end, we return home in smelly uniforms ”.
He stressed that “we just want the government to listen to us. I also want my members throughout the District to make a great effort. We know that our patients and even our families are suffering, but it is time for the government to listen to our demand ”.
The hospital’s acting medical superintendent, Dr. Bertrand Agilinko, was busy caring for patients alone in the maternity ward and the NICU, said management was working to control the situation at the hospital, adding that they would not be discharging any critically ill patient.
