The Ranking Member on Parliament’s Health Committee, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, has called for a probe into the demise of a woman while in transit after delivery at the Holy Child Catholic Hospital at Fijai in the Western Region.
A 31-year-old woman Augustina Awortwe lost her life in an ambulance after undergoing a caesarean session at the Holy Child Catholic Hospital in Fijai after her husband’s inability to fuel the ambulance at the hospital to transport her to the Korle Bu Teaching hospital in Accra.
John Obiri Yeboah, the husband of the deceased, had also called for an investigation into the circumstances that led to the demise of his wife.
In his narrations, Mr. Yeboah wondered why an ambulance attendant could tell his colleague to use the time of the wife’ death; 8:37 pm; to stake lotto.
In a media interaction after a visit to the family, Mr. Mintah Akandoh assured the family of a full-scale investigation into the incident to unravel cause of the death of the woman.
“I assured the husband and the family that we will pursue this matter to its logical conclusion. We’ve spoken to the husband and the facility that did the referral and there are more questions. The ambulance driver and crew could be interdicted pending investigation,” he indicated.
The Ranking Member expressed worry about the development adding that “I don’t want to pre-empt any investigation, but it is not the best. I don’t think that anybody deserves to lose their lives when they are going to give birth.
“The story is bizarre, and so we have to get back into Parliament and commence a probe of the whole issue. They are not supposed to pay anything. If as a country we want to make ambulance cash and carry, we should say so, so that before anybody calls the ambulance service, he or she knows that you must pay for the services of the ambulance.”
However, the Western and Western North Regional National Ambulance Service has asked for a postmortem on 31-year-old, Augustina Awortwe.
Speaking to Kwame Malcolm of Empire News, the Regional Coordinator of the National Ambulance Service, Dr. Tawiah Siameh said the incident raises questions that require answers.
“I think a lot of things happened at the Hospital (Holy Child Catholic Hospital, Fijai) and that is where the delay arose. We must admit and it happened that they did not even get to Cape Coast when the woman started deteriorating thereby raising a lot of questions. In what state was the woman? Because if the woman is in a very critical state, I would have suggested that at Effia Nkwanta Regional Hospital, we have obstetricians and gynaecologists and even a consultant obstetrician gynaecologist who could have sorted this thing out at that level,” he opined.
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/103.5FM/Isaac Dzidzoamenu
