Nursing and Midwife Council suspends two members

The Governing Board of the Nursing and Midwife Council (N&MC), Ghana, has suspended an Enrolled Nurse and a Midwife for three years for unprofessional conduct and breach of professional standards.

The Governing Board’s decision was against Mrs. Sarah Serwah Major, a Midwife and owner of Craddle Care Maternity Hospital Trust and Madam Susana Adu, the Enrolled General Nurse who worked at Doku Memorial Clinic.

The decision by the Professional and Disciplinary Committee of the Governing Board was on the back of complaints against the two professionals in the provision of healthcare to their clients.

The Board’s preliminary inquiry reports pointed to the breach of professional standards and malpractice on the part of the Midwife and the Enrolled Nurse respectively.

In release signed by Mr Felix Nyante, Registrar of the Council, and copied to the Ghana News Agency, said the two should not hold themselves as Registered Midwife and Registered Enrolled Nurse respectively or render, or purport to render any professional healthcare services to the public.

The Governing Board, in addition, has ordered the two health practitioners to return their license, practice cards and certificates of registration to the Registrar of the Nursing and Midwifery Council.

“Having established a prima facie case of the complaints received, and following the dissolution of the 13th Governing Board in 2017, the Council had to wait till the inauguration of the 14th Governing Board to sit on the matter. After the case was presented to the 14th Governing Board, the Professional and Disciplinary committee of the Board was tasked to investigate the allegations and make recommendations,” he said.

He stated that the investigations by the Committee revealed that the complainant whose name was withheld, went into labour late night on Thursday November 30, 2017 and visited the facility to deliver her baby.

The complainant, who had earlier visited the facility with her husband, were assured by Mrs Major of her professional experience, including the fact that although she did not usually perform episiotomies but would put in place backup plans for any eventualities.

The complainant was then asked to go home and reported for delivery of her baby on Monday December 4, 2017.

She said that during and after the delivery of her baby, she observed the following practices, as contained in her complaints to the Council;

The Midwife asked the complainant’s husband to cut the umbilical cord with a blunt tool and used her gloved hand to touch other unsanitary items including her phone during the delivery.

Mrs. Major in trying to forcibly and manually remove the placenta amid excessive bleeding succeeded in removing part of the placenta from the uterus.

She did not consult any Doctor although she assured them of consulting one in case of difficult situations and also refused their request to refer her to another hospital.

However, upon persistent pressure, the complainant’s husband drove the wife to a nearby Hospital where she received treatment.

Madam Susana Adu, on the other hand, was reported to the Council by her client for administering medication and injection to their son whose condition got worse after two days and also did not give them a referral note to any hospital for further treatment which led to the death of their three-year old son.

The statement called on the public and the media to report any case of professional misconduct or breach of professional standards by Nurses and Midwives to the Nursing and Midwifery Council for the necessary actions to be taken.