Police Hospital Doctors Unhappy

Doctors at the Police Hospital on Tuesday said the hospital would not be in a position to cope with the influx of patients from the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital following the strike action embarked upon by junior doctors at the teaching hospital.

Dr Kudjoe Benyah, Senior Medical Officer at the Police Hospital, told the GNA that their workload was unbearable and they were having serious limitations, including understaffing, limited drugs supply and bed capacity.

The strike action by their colleagues would, therefore, put a strain on them.

Junior doctors at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital on Monday withdrew their services due to the delay in the negotiations for better conditions of service.

Dr Benyah said with the introduction of the Patient's Charter it would be wrong to admit patients that would end up sleeping on the bare floor.

He said the hospital started experiencing an influx of patients on Tuesday morning following the strike action.

Meanwhile, some frustrated and unhappy doctors at the Police Hospital, who did not mince words, complained to the GNA that their working conditions were poor.

According to them, about 10 doctors at the Police Hospital recently left for greener pastures leaving behind only two surgeons and a few doctors, who were working around the clock.

When the GNA was conducted around some of the wards, it saw that in one ward there were both female and male patients. Outside that ward, an elderly man was lying on a bench.

Some emergency gadgets were not in good condition and most of the wards were untidy with bad odour. The doctors attributed this to insufficient wards and the huge number of patients at the hospital.

The doctors said their complaints had not resulted in any action and the situation, coupled with the deplorable state of affairs at the hospital, was making their working life unbearable.

They said their salary and Additional Duty Hours Allowance were lower than those of their counterparts in Korle-Bu and those working for the Ministry of Health.

Meanwhile, a visit by the GNA to the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital to assess the impact of the strike action saw most nurses working alongside senior doctors.

Most of the doctors did not want to talk but directed the GNA to the administration. One doctor at the Department of Child Health, however, said: "Work is not at the normal level."

Madam Theresa T. Komieter, Principal Nursing Officer, Nursing Administration, who was the only person available at the Administration Block, confirmed that work was going on as all nurses were at post.

She said the impact of the strike action would be felt on Wednesday when more patients turned up after the holiday.