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It
was a gloomy atmosphere at House Number
12, Israel, near Florensa Hotel when Mr.
Frank Ayim Damptey returned from a one
week business trip abroad to meet his
household in mourning.
Mr.
Frank Ayim Damptey, who is the MD/CEO of
Tata Beverages Company Limited is a
younger brother of Daniel Danquah
Damptey, an NPP activist and regular
columnist of most newspapers and
websites.
The
businessman had returned to the country
on Friday, 12th March, 2010,
a \day earlier than schedule and decided
to surprise his family members at home.
Unknown to him, a surprise was awaiting
him at home.
He
had “chattered”(sic)a taxi
expecting to see smiling faces beckoning
him home. The taxi driver who took his
luggage to the house returned to tell
him: “Sir, I think there is a funeral
going on in your house”. When he
summoned courage to get to the house,
family members “picked race” or
“scattered in various directions for
safety” for nobody wanted to be the one
to deliver the tragic news to him. The
man bore his tragic loss like the stoic
philosophers of old on hearing the
devastating, but only after shedding
some tears. He could not fathom what
could have happened for he had spoken to
the wife and his children the previous
day and the wife did not give him any
notion that there was something amiss.
But
the most pathetic aspect of the whole
thing was the unprofessional attitude
exhibited by the staff at the Maternity
wing at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital
on the night of Thursday, 11th
March ,2010. The deceased, Diana Ayim
who was about Seven and half Months
pregnant collapsed at home at about
10.05pm or thereabout and was first
rushed to the La-Paz Community Hospital
for treatment. But Staff at the Hospital
after taken a critical look at her
condition directed that she be taken to
Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital.
At
the Maternity section of the Hospital,
the Nurses on duty refused to do
anything to alleviate her condition.
They said that they were not admitting
any new patient due to water shortage at
the hospital and that was that. Not even
passionate entreaties from family
members to the nurses to go and take a
look at the patient then in a vehicle
could move them from the top of Mount
Olympus they thought they were
occupying. With utter detachment, they
said the patient be taken to either
Ridge or 37 Military Hospital.
By
the time staff at the Ridge Hospital
attended to her, she was stone dead.Such
callous display of “power” by the Nurses
at the Maternity Wing of the Korle-Bu
Teaching Hospital on the night of
Thursday, 11th March, 2010 calls for
condemnation by concerned people in the
country. Isn’t it time the appropriate
authorities took measures to bring such
culprits to book to serve as a deterrent
to others? What prevented the nurses on
duty to go and take a critical look at
the patient before ordering that she be
taken elsewhere for treatment? If they
had done that, perhaps her life might
have been saved. Are the Nurses telling
us that because there is no water at the
hospital, somebody who is in dire need
of medical attention will not be treated
at the hospital? What about asking the
family members of the patient to bring
water to the hospital for the upkeep of
the patient? I bet, some families might
even donate tanks of water.
By
the callous and unprofessional conduct
of the Nurses at the Maternity wing of
the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, the
family has lost not only a mother and a
wife who was very dear to us but also a
baby who might have grown up to be part
of the problem solving body in the
country.
Meanwhile, the One Week gathering of the
Bempong family of Gyakiti and the
Damptey (Bretuo) family of Abomoso and
Sankubenase will take place on Friday,
19th March, 2010 at House
Number 12, Israel, near Florensa Hotel,
Alhaji.
Daniel Danquah
Damptey (danieldanquah_damptey@yahoo.com)
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