We never insisted on prior payment - Korle Bu Authorities

Authorities at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital on Monday said there was no insistence on the prior payment of bill for the treatment of Miss Eva Boadu, the 20-year old woman who died of Chronic Renal failure at the hospital on December 5.

"It is regrettable the impression created by certain sections of the media that Korle Bu Teaching Hospital's insistence on prior payment resulted in Eva Boadu's death." they said.

Briefing journalists, Dr Henry Holbrook-Smith, Chief Executive of the Hospital said treatment was on-going before and after directives came from the Ministry of Health to continue, adding "she received five dialysis after the directives."

"It is, therefore, inaccurate to state that Korle Bu Teaching Hospital did not carry out the directives of the Ministry of Health," he said.

Dr Holbrook-Smith said Chronic Renal failure or End-Stage Renal failure was a fatal condition that resulted in several abuse to one's kidneys and at that stage, the kidneys were irreversibly damaged.

"The only hope of survival is renal transplantation which has its characteristic problems of tissue compatibility, rejection, recurrent infection and prolonged medication with immunosuppressive therapy."

According to him, there are about 20 cases of Chronic Renal failures each day on the Korle Bu wards. Three died the last weekend and Miss Eva Boadu's case was not different from the several cases in the hospital.

"Her palliative treatment was stopped only when it became clear that Miss Boadu's treatment could not be sustained any longer," he explained.

Renal Dialysis, he said, was palliative to remove body toxins especially urea from the body which has to be done three times a week with each session costing about 100 dollars. "The manpower costs, utilities, special filtered water are not excluded''.

"This life saving procedure is available to all. No cash is demanded up front. However, after saving the patient's life, it is expected that payment is made in full," he noted.

Dr Frempong Boateng, Head of the Cardio Unit, said surgery for Chronic Renal failure was not done in Ghana and it costs about 40,000 dollars after which one needed to spend about 50,000 dollars on drugs.

This year two people went for the treatment outside. "The outcome of Chronic Renal failure is death, the dialysis just prolongs life, not tackling the disease itself.

"It just offers about 25 per cent of the treatment to the patient", he said, adding that some patients died over the past two months during dialysis.

Dr Boateng said it was painful that the family of the deceased got emotional about the advice given before the termination of the treatment, adding that the advice was given because of the seriousness of the case and the financial strains it puts on the family.

"It is not the joy of doctors to see patients die, we were trained to save lives." Mr Edward Marfo, Chief Director of the Ministry of Health, said it was a communication gap that led to the misunderstanding that surrounded the case.

He said the important thing was not to apportion blame but to ensure that similar situations did not occur again.

Last week, a section of the media picked on the authorities of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital following the death of Miss Boadu who was under going dialysis for Chronic Renal failure or End-Stage Renal failure.