A 15-year-old girl, Alimo Mercy diagnosed of leukemia by the Dangme East District Hospital, died on Thursday, when her parents refused her medical attention and rather sent her to a prayer camp.
It was believed her constant suffering of dizziness, loss of appetite, anaemia and tiredness was spiritual because the ordeal began after a biscuit gift to her.
Alimo was taken from the hospital last Wednesday only for her corpse to be returned to the hospital�s mortuary next day.
Briefing the Ghanaian Times, a source at the hospital said about a week ago, Alimo was sent to the hospital, looking very anaemic and upon examination was diagnosed of leukemia and therefore recommended for specialised treatment.
�We tried all we could to convince the parents to seek further medical attention at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital for her but they kept insisting that it was spiritual, and would rather take her to a prayer camp� he stated.
The source said in the light of medical ethics, the doctors could not force the parents against their wish and discharged her, �only to see them bring her corpse to the hospital the following day,� he said.
The source said superstition is one of the challenges they are confronted with.
�It is pathetic,� the source added, that �even with maternal cases some women are reluctant to seek medical attention until things are getting out of hand before coming to the hospital.�
He blamed the situation on poverty, illiteracy and superstition which he said made the discharge of their duties very challenging and advocated more education to address the situation.
When contacted the Medical Superintendent of the hospital, Dr. Philip Narh corroborated the story.
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