Category: Ghana General News

The Wa regional hospital has begun investigations to the death of the two-year-old boy who died of snakebite after he was denied treatment by health officials.

Family of the boy who rushed him to the facility on Saturday after the snakebite said he was refused treatment by health officials who said they had to locate his folder before they could attend to him.

The boy died some four hours later after he was denied treatment. The upper East regional minister promised an investigation into the development.

Speaking to Starr News, the medical director of the Wa hospital Dr Nabil said the committee probing the death will include a relative of the deceased in order to ensure transparency in the process.

“We are a health institution and were expected to discharge health to the optimum. Anyone found culpable will be dealt with. We will be fair and transparent,” he told Starr News.

Commenting on the development, former director of the Ghana Health Service Alias Sori said the GHS does not condone wrongdoing.

” A number of health officials have lost their certificates to practice because of negligence and indiscipline. It has happened in the country and it can happen again. I understand the Regional Minister says he’ll look into the matter and that is good. However, regional director and his team will have to come on board as well to look into the issue.

By: Pearl Abaidoo-Abbam

Government has signed the Concession Agreement for the construction of the Accra SkyTrain Project.

The deal was signed on the sidelines of the ongoing African Investment Forum, on Monday.

The signing of the SkyTrain agreement means feasibility studies to determine the bankability of the project will commence soon.

Investors have assured that the first station for the Accra SkyTrain project will be opened in 9 months.

At the signing ceremony, President Akufo-Addo described it as “a happy day for Ghana and her good people.”

He added that it was a “critical step towards the consummation of this project.

The President further thanked the SkyTrain Consortium for backing the project which “is meeting an important infrastructural need.”

“That is what we are hoping for, so that the people of Ghana benefit from the progress and the relief that a modern system of transport in our capital city is going to bring.”

In his remarks, Minister for Railways Development, Joe Ghartey indicated that the vision of the President included the construction of inner-city rails.

He added that other approvals needed for the project to fully take off will be given to make sure that construction starts.

“What we have signed is a concession agreement but we still have some work to do. We will work hard and work together. We think it is achievable, we must make it work,” Mr. Ghartey said.

The President of the African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina, in his remarks said President Akufo-Addo’s personal engagement and leadership made the signing of the concession agreement possible.

He further stated that the African Development Bank (AfDB) will continue to work with all other partners in the Consortium to make the Project a reality.

“What you are witnessing is very significant in another sense, this is Africa to Africa investment. This is an investment of 2.3 billion dollars made up of a consortium of South African investors that are investing in another African country.”

Story by: Pearl Abaidoo-Abbam S

The much anticipated Accra Sky Train project, which is a fully automated, high efficiency and extremely cost effective public mass transit system that will use air propulsion technology to drive lightweight, high passenger volume vehicles, on the 11th of November, 2019, received a big boost with the signing of a concession agreement between the Government of Ghana and AiSky Train Consortium of South Africa.

The signing ceremony took place in South Africa as part of the ongoing African Investment Forum’s Invest in Africa’s Space event ongoing in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Addressing attendees at the signing ceremony, President Akufo-Addo, expressed great delight about the fact that the project is gradually nearing its consummation stage in order to see the light of day. With the signing of the concession agreement, President Akufo Addo said, “It is meeting an important infrastructure need and hopefully the step that is being taken today with the signing of the concession, means that the project itself is that much nearer conclusion. That is what we’re hoping for so that the people of Ghana could benefit from the progress of the relief that a modern system of commuting in our capital city is going to bring.”

Sky train systems are pre-fabricated using precision molded, pre – stressed reinforced concrete components that are capable of being installed at a very rapid rate, meaning that there is minimal disruption and congestion in the urban area that is undergoing installation and commissioning.

The proposed sky train initiative in Accra provides for the development of five (5) routes, four (4) of which are comprised of radial routes that originate at the proposed sky train terminal, at the heart of Accra, at a newly developed Kwame Nkrumah circle, and one (1) route that provides and intra-city commuter loop distribution service, also emanating from Circle. The project envisages a total track length across all routes of 194 kilometers.

Story by Emmanuel koranteng.

Ghana High Commissioner to South Africa, His Excellency Mr. George Ayisi Boateng has bemoaned the failure by Ghanaian nationals in South Africa to register their names and addresses at the mission.

 He said less than six hundred (600) Ghanaian citizens living in South Africa have registered their names and location addresses at the Ghana High Commission (SA), a situation he said would disfranchise people from participating in the Representation of the People Amendment Act (ROPAA …).

Story by Emmanuel koranteng.

A two-year-old boy who was allegedly refused treatment for snakebite at the Upper West Regional Hospital in Wa has died.

The boy was bitten by a snake in a Bambara beans farm at Boli in the Wa municipality Saturday, and the mother had to carry him on her back to trek more than 3 kilometres to a CHPS Compound in the area where he was given first aid before being referred to the regional hospital.

He was then carried on a motorbike together with his mother and aunt for about 45-minute journey from Boli to Wa.

They arrived at the regional hospital at about 2:00 p.m. but health workers there allegedly asked the boy’s mother to get a folder before treatment could be administered.

Workers in charge of the folder room were, however, said to have abandoned their duty post at the time.

The distraught relatives of the boy went back to inform nurses at the emergency ward about the development, but they allegedly insisted on their demand for a folder before any treatment could be given to the boy.

Boy ‘refused’ medical attention

According to relatives and an eyewitness, the nurses refused to admit or even give the little boy any form of treatment or attention because they could not get the folder.

“We were asked to go for a folder if not we wouldn’t get treatment. We went to the folder room but there was nobody there, and the nurses insisted they will not attend to us until we have the folder,” Salia Abudu who transported the boy and his relatives to the hospital told 3news.com.

In their desperation, Abudu said they went to inquire about the whereabouts of persons in charge of the folder room from a nurse at the OPD department but the said male nurse got angry.

“One big man who was at the OPD taking vital signs got even angry at us when we asked the whereabouts of the people in charge of the folder room so we sat at the Hospital up 6:00 p.m.” he claimed.

According to Abudu, they were scandalised by the attitude of the health workers on duty at the time, noting both the boy’s mother and aunt became helpless after waiting for four hours without getting any treatment for the boy.

“We were advised to go and unfortunately, the boy died upon arriving at the CHPS compound,” Abudu told 3news.com

Residents who got wind of the incident are reportedly angry and are demanding heads to roll at the hospital for the alleged negligence.

When contacted, the acting director of the Regional Hospital, Dr Emmanuel Steve Blankson, said the matter had not come to his attention but assured he will investigate to “know what actually happened on the ground”.

He explained that the hospital has put in place measures to take care of all emergency cases at the facility including snake bites.

Dr Blankson indicated that even in situations where victims with emergency cases are brought in unconscious without any relative, they are given treatment by health workers, and cited a similar incident where an accident victim brought in Saturday was rushed to the theatre.

On the issue of a folder, he said the practice has been that where a patient requiring emergency care is brought in without a folder, they pen down the patient’s information on a sheet of paper until such a time his or her folder will be ready and the information transferred unto it.

He assured that he will look into the two-year-old boy’s case to know “whether at any point because of folder somebody didn’t get care”.

BY: Pearl Abaidoo-Abbam