EFFIA-NKWANTA DOCTORS ARE OVERSTRECHED ... Page 25

Story: Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu, Takoradi

INadequacy of doctors at the Effia-Nkwanta Regional Hospital is compelling those on duty to go the extra mile in order to cater for the increasing number of patients who attend the hospital for medical care daily.
Attendance at the hospital has increased considerably since the introduction of the National Health Insurance Scheme, without a corresponding increase in the number of medical doctors.
Many people who seek medical care at the hospital are not only from the metropolis, but also from other parts of the region with various illnesses which could have been handled at polyclinics and other hospitals in the region.
Authorities at the hospital say the facility requires about 54 doctors to handle cases, but unfortunately at the moment, only 24 doctors are available, which is woefully inadequate.
As a result of the inadequacy of doctors, those on duty have to do the work of colleagues who are on their annual leave or attend programmes in and outside the region.
That aside, the hospital’s out-patient department (OPD) is always overcrowded because of its small size, and two or more doctors share a consulting room.
When this reporter visited the hospital, it was realised that patients who report to the hospital to seek medical attention go with three or four family members or friends, thus worsening the congestion at the OPD and making the work of the nurses and other health workers very difficult. Health workers, especially the nurses who try to bring sanity to the OPD by asking relations or friends of patients to go out to create space for patients attract the wrath of the people.
The reporter witnessed a nasty spectacle when a nurse tried to persuade a young lady, who had accompanied her friend to the hospital to vacate her seat for a patient. The lady rained insults on the nurse. The Medical Superintendent of the hospital, Dr R. Sagoe, corroborated the problems of the hospital and said the number of doctors at the regional hospital was woefully inadequate.
He said the hospital needed more than 53 doctors, but had only 24 now. According to him, some departments were seriously handicapped, because doctors were not available.
He said there were other health facilities in the metropolis that could have taken care of some patients, but the public preferred the Effia-Nkwanta Hospital as their first port of call.
Dr Sagoe said many patients who were supposed to visit other hospitals rather went to the Effia-Nkwanta facility, because the hospital was not operating the gatekeeper system.
Under “the gatekeeper system”, no patient can just walk to the hospital without first accessing the services of polyclinics and other health centres and being referred to it.
Dr Sagoe expressed the hope that from the beginning of the second quarter of this year, the hospital would get four new doctors to help reduce the difficulty existing professionals went through and the long hours and queues one had to follow in order to see a doctor.
Dr Sagoe said the regional hospital faced the same problems other district hospitals in the region faced.
He advised families and friends who accompanied their relatives to the hospital and other health facilities to leave the patients for the doctors  to take care of them and later take them home.
“It is wrong to have three or four people who are not sick accompanying one patient to the health facility. It is our duty to ensure that we do everything possible to save life,” he said.