SCANDALS ROCK KORLE-BU

KORLE-BU Teaching Hospital, the nation’s largest medical establishment has been hit by three alleged scandals.The allegations border on a baby whose head was said to have been severed during delivery, a nursing officer of the hospital who died under questionable circumstance and clandestine deals at the Allied Surgery Wards A and B.Findings made by the Graphic on all the allegations go contrary to submissions made by the hospital administration in response to the allegations.

In the first instance concerning the baby, it was gathered that the mother of the baby, Madam Joyce Akotua, a 35-year old resident of House Number A5561, Korle Gonno, a suburb of Accra, had to be rushed to the hospital when her condition worsened after administering a vaginal insertion pill. The pill — Gyno-Daktarin-40-mg — with batch number 99C02/504 and expiry date of 03-2002 — prescribed by a medical officer of the hospital was inserted by the victim on September 3.This , according to a source close to the family, caused complications and she was rushed to Korle Bu.The source, intimated that an earlier scan (video) report from Korle-Bu had indicated that Madam Akotua was to be in labour on September 13, 1999, but on September 3, when her condition became critical she had to be taken to the hospital.This account given by the source is, however, in sharp contrast with the response of the Korle-Bu Administration.

In a statement signed by Dr. H. A. Holdbrook-Smith, Chief Executive of Korle Bu in reaction to the allegation, said the baby was dead before delivery.It explained that “the baby was macerated, which meant that it was rotting in the uterus with its skin peeling off”.It said in view of the risk it posed to the mother, it had to be delivered quickly. In the process the head was separated from the body and delivered separately by manual extraction (by hand).“This was done to save the life of the mother as the baby was dead long before she was admitted to hospital”, the statement added.Another point of contradiction in this particular case is that, whilst the medical history of Madam Akotua given by the Hospital Administration stated that she was sent from the OPD on emergency on September 16,1999 at 5.22 am, the family source maintained that Madam Akotua was sent to the hospital on September 3.

On the death of the nursing officer, Sister Anita Tamakloe on October 13, 1999, investigations indicate that her colleagues at the Child Health Department are not happy about the way she was handled. They questioned the use of certain drugs which were prescribed for her although according to them the hospital had her medical history as someone who suffers from allergies.They contend that this might have played a role in worsening her situation.However, the statement by the Korle Bu Administration said, Dr. (Mrs.) T. Danso-Bamfo, one of the staff clinic doctors reported to the Chief Executive that Sister Tamakloe reported at the clinic with “rashes on her body and red swollen and itching eyes for three days”. The statement said the patient had already started taking Piriton tablets for three days without any improvement.It said the doctor, therefore, prescribed injection of Hydrocortisone to be given intramuscularly and Hismanal tablets to be taken orally adding that the patient herself went to the pharmacy at the Polyclinic to collect her drugs.The statement said the senior nursing officer in charge of the treatment room gave the injection - Hydrocortisone 100gm IM-manufactured in 1997 with batch number GPXA 703 and expiry date of 2000.It explained that Hydrocortisone is the drug used in treating severe allergic reaction called Anaphylaxis and “it is not unlikely to cause a death in this case”.The statement pointed out that later it was realised that the patient was experiencing dizziness and was, therefore, put on a trolley and when the doctor was informed, she was rushed by ambulance to the emergency room for further attention.

The hospital maintains that she was diagnosed as having allergic conjunctivitis and was referred to an eye specialist.Regarding the cloak-and-dagger deals at the Allied Surgery Wards A and B, particularly the fifth and sixth floors, the Graphic gathered that some unscrupulous persons in the wards who are in league with certain elements outside Korle Bu substitute genuine drugs being returned by patients to either the pharmacy or the main dispensary with expired ones.It was learnt that the norm is that patients who are on admission are allowed to return drugs which were not used after medication to the main dispensary or the pharmacy for refunds.A source told the Graphic that “it is this loophole that these people have exploited to the peril of patients”.The investigations revealed that in most cases when patients send the drugs for refunds, they are found to be either expired or about to expire.

Sources at the pharmacy and the main dispensary confirmed the deal.However, Dr. Holdbrook-Smith told the Graphic that he is unaware of the existence of such a deal and gave the assurance that he would pursue the matter to its logical conclusion.