Since its inception almost two years ago, the Lekma General Hospital, located in the Ledzokuku-Krowor Municipal Area, has operated without x-ray machines and other radiological services, as well as landlines, making it impossible for the public to contact the hospital in times of emergencies or to make enquiries.
Investigations conducted by �The Finder� revealed that the Chinese contractors who built the facility equipped the hospital with x-ray machines but failed to install them, rendering the equipment useless and thereby compelling hospital authorities to transfer all patients requiring those services to other hospitals.
Sources told the Finder that although the situation is impacting negatively on the hospital and posing problems to patients, Ghanaian technicians do not have the technical know-how to install the Chinese x-ray machines, revealing that attempts are being made to bring back the Chinese to install the equipment.
Confirming the story, the administrator of the hospital, Theresa Sekoh, said the situation poses a huge problem to the hospital and needs immediate attention. All the radiological services have not been working since the inception of the hospital. We came to meet it that way, but the CT scan started working last month,� she said.
She added, �It�s very sad to see patients going out to other hospitals like La General Hospital for x-rays and CT scan services, especially when they are accident cases. But thankfully, the Clinical Engineering Division of GHS (Ghana Health Service) was very helpful in getting the CT scan to function.�
According to her, the hospital is constantly pursuing the same division to get the x-ray machines working.
An elderly woman who visited the hospital said she did not know that the hospital did not have x-ray services, adding that she had to go to the La General Hospital to take an x-ray of her chest region and return to her doctor at Lekma.
Adding to the chain of problems at the Hospital is the bizarre reality that the Lekma General Hospital does not have landlines. Patients or pregnant women who need emergency treatment have to know the mobile numbers of hospital workers or doctors or simply take the risk of moving to the hospital.
�As we speak now we do not have telephone lines for people to call in to make enquiries,� the administrator told The Finder.
�The hospital was built without telephones and intercoms. All the wirings and cables were not in place. So until last year November when management took the decision to have intercoms, doctors, nurses and administrators had to be walking to and from one department to the other for information either on patients or for whatever communication.�
She explained that the hospital has requested for four landline numbers from Vodafone, but financial constraints have stalled the process of obtaining the lines. �Vodafone has given us four lines and they have laid the cables from the township to a point where we have to get challenge is. It is financial, but we are still looking at various quotations. The last one that we received was GH�4000,� she stated.
Asked how doctors are contacted in cases of emergencies at the hospital, Theresa Sekoh said the Regional Health Directorate provided doctors with Gotha Phones, which are used among doctors, administrators and some nurses, �but these numbers are not in the system or public so when patients need us, they just walk in or call somebody they know from the hospital.�
At the Vodafone office at Teshie Nungua Estates, the technician who worked on the hospital�s application explained that Vodafone had fulfilled its part of the bargain by processing the hospital�s application and extending the cables to a point where the hospital has to do the final connection.
�We have laid all the cables. They need a technician to install a switch or a server to complete the process,� he said.
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