Mentally retarded boy abandoned at Central Regional Hospital

A thirteen year old mentally retarded boy whose parents/ family cannot be traced is being housed at the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital’s Accident and Emergency (A&E) ward because the institutions which are expected to seek his welfare are refusing to accept him.

According to Dr. Daniel Asare, the Medical Director of the Hospital, the boy was rushed to the A&E after he was knocked down by a vehicle at Komenda about two weeks ago, and he was treated and handed over to the Social Worker attached to the hospital to trace his family at Komenda but to no avail.

He said the boy was returned back to Komenda with the hope that his family will come for him; the Komenda-Police brought him back to the Cape Coast Hospital and the Hospital authorities sent him to the Ankaful Psychiatric Hospital where he was rejected.

Last Tuesday, the boy was taken to the Social Welfare Department in Accra at the expense of the Hospital, but the officials refused to admit him and he was brought back to the Hospital where he is currently occupying one of the beds at the A&E.

Dr. Asare explained that due to the boy’s unstable mental condition, he cannot be kept at the Children’s Ward as he becomes frisky and in some cases and tries to remove the oxygen tubes on some patients and hence he is at the emergency ward for closer observation.

He noted that the boy who cannot speak or hear but mobile was exposed to all kinds of infections and sees all the serious cases being brought to the hospital, therefore, lamented over institutional failures in the Ghanaian society.

The Director said the case would be transferred to the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit in Cape Coast since the issue is child neglect which was against the law.

He appealed to the Government, Non-Governmental Organisations and philanthropists to support such people since they are also part of society.