Mother narrates how her 10-year-old son died at Tema General Hospital

Mabel Senahey, mother of the 10-year-old boy who died at the Tema General Hospital over alleged medical negligence has narrated the circumstances that led to the death of her son.

Narrating the incident to JoyNews’ Maxwell Agbagba, Mrs. Senehey said it all started when her son came back home from vacation classes complaining of pains in his leg after he got knocked by a friend while playing football.

As her son could not contain the pain he was in, Mrs. Senahey took him to the Tema General Hospital for treatment. After she explained her son’s situation to the doctor, the doctor prescribed a 50mg Naklofen drug to be administered to her son but it later got changed from 50mg to 75mg by the pharmacist when she went for the drugs.

She notified the doctor about the change in the prescription but was directed to go ahead and administer the drug to her son. According to her, the doctor initially got surprised when she realized the prescription has been changed and kept silent for a while. She confirmed to the mother of the deceased that the drug is only meant for adults and not for kids so she should only administer one to her son.

The woman did as directed by the doctor only to get home with a more serious complication. Her son after taking the medicine started feeling uncomfortable with sweats all around his face complaining of heartburn and stomach ache. She was forced to take her son again to the hospital.

Mrs. Senahey said all attempts to get the attention of the doctor and nurse on duty proved futile as she was told by the doctor that the pain her son is going through is normal.

The boy struggled and screamed in pain but the nurse on duty was not bothered about it as she continued with her sleep.

The last request of Mrs. Senahey’s son was for the mother to check the time for him as he was leaving to an unknown place.

“Mummy I’m suffering, all my throat, my stomach is paining me. Mummy look at the time for me...take your phone and look at the time for me...Mummy, I’m going but I don’t know where I’m going,” Mrs. Senahey recalls the last words of her son.

Her son passed away before the doctor came in to attend to him. The family is now accusing the hospital of criminal negligence and wants justice for the death of her son.

However, the Medical and Dental Council has asked the family to file a formal complaint to initiate a probe into the possible case of medical negligence.