At a time the government is trying its best to meet the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) five (5), which seeks to eradicate infant mortality in the country, some nurses at the Koforidua Regional Hospital are doing otherwise.
These nurses have thrown the ethics of their profession to the dogs, and have demonstrated gross disrespect for the fundamental human rights of some pregnant women who visit the facility when in labour. Information reaching The Chronicle indicates that the �unprofessional nurses�, particularly those at the labour ward, subject their clients to insults amidst other threats.
37 year old Sekina Amadu, a victim of these nurses, has called on the government, particularly, the Ministry of Health (MOH), to immediately constitute a committee to investigate the attitude of the nurses and bring them to book. Narrating her ordeal to The Chronicle, the 37 year old trader and a resident of Koforidua said she went to the hospital on October 5, 2013 to deliver, but lost the child shortly after an operation.
The mother of three, who was expecting the fourth child, told this reporter that she delivered all the three children at home without the support of anybody, but was advised by a nurse relative (name withheld) at the same hospital to attend antenatal clinic during her pregnancy.
According to her, even though she did not see any wisdom in attending antenatal since she delivered all the three children at home without going to the hospital, she, nevertheless, heeded the advice and started with the antenatal clinic at the Koforidua Polyclinic.
Sekina, who claimed she has never missed any antenatal attendance, went to the Polyclinic on October 4, 2013 at about 1:20 p.m. due to labour pains, but was referred to the Regional Hospital the next day, due to the low progress of the first stage of labour.
Madam Sekinah mentioned that she arrived at the Regional Hospital at 7:00 a.m. on October 5, 2013, and shortly on arrival, one of three nurses on duty at that time started shouting at her that she was disturbing and if she did not keep quiet, they would sterilise her after delivery.
She regretted that instead of the nurses attending to her and giving her assurance and encouragement because she was in pain, they rather rained insults on her and only attended to her at about 3:00 p.m. when her condition started deteriorating. To support her claim, Sekina showed this reporter her folder, which indicates that she delivered a baby boy through an operation, but he died moments after delivery. The weight of the baby was recorded as weighing 2.9 kilogrammes.
The womb of Madam Sekinah was also tied and completely cut off through a process known as Bilateral Tubal Ligation (BTL) without her consent. She argued that if the nurses on duty that fateful day had attended to her earlier, her child would not have died, because she would have delivered without an operation.
Sekina further told The Chronicle that after the death of her child, she thought she could still conceive, but when after nine months there was no sign, she became alarmed, and, therefore, showed her folder to a nurse, who advised her to attend the antenatal clinic. It was when she followed the advice that she was told she could no more deliver again, because her womb had been sterilised.
This, according to her, confirmed the earlier threat issued by the said nurse at the labour ward that she would sterilise her after delivery. She has, therefore, vowed to file a legal suit against the hospital for allegedly killing her child and sterilising her without her consent. When contacted for the position of the hospital on the matter, the Medical Superintendent of the hospital, Dr. Boamah, confirmed that Madam Sekinah had been sterilised and cannot give birth again unless miracle, and that it was done with her consent.
Even though Madam Sekinah insists that her consent was not considered before carrying out the operation, Dr. Boamah, on the other hand, maintained that her consent was sought through the thumb printing of a consent form. In order to establish the truth, this reporter demanded to see the said thumb-printed form, but the hospital officials could not produce it at the time of filing this report.
Dr. Boamah continued that such operations are mostly carried out when the life of the patient is in danger, with or without permission of the patient. He could not confirm the situation of Madam Sekinah before it was carried out. He, however, explained that in most of the cases, patients give their consent to the operation, but when they realise that they could no more give birth, they turn round to deny ever giving their consent
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