Deputy Minister consoles victims of Tamale-Savelugu accident

Tamale, Nov. 29, GNA - Mrs Dzifa Attivor, Deputy Minister of Transport, on Tuesday paid a visit to the Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH) where she consoled 14 victims of last Saturdays accident, who are still on admission.

The accident, which involved a Metro-Mass Transit bus with registration number 9905Y and a Benz bus with registration number AS5710F, occurred on the Tamale-Savelugu Highway in which 28 people lost their lives.

Of the 14 people on admission, two are in critical condition.

Dr Stephen Tabiri, General Surgeon and Endoscopies' at the TTH, conducted the Deputy Minister and Mr Antwi Gyamfi and Maxwell Awuku, Board Chairman and Managing Director of the Metro-Mass transit respectively around the hospital wards to see the patients.

Some officials of the Road Safety Commission also accompanied the Minister.

Dr Tabiri told the Minister that those, who were in critical condition, needed to be transferred to either Komfo-Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi or Korle-Bu in Accra for further treatment.

Dr Abubakar Ibrahim, a Consultant Orthopedic at the hospital, bemoaned the lack of basic equipment and facilities that would enable doctors perform the necessary surgeries on wounded people.

He said it was sad for patients, who came to the hospital with minor fractures some of which needed amputations, to be referred to Accra or Kumasi.

He said such a situation was unacceptable in this modern era and it required that all the hospitals be equipped with the necessary tools for doctors to carry out their duties efficiently.

Dr Ibrahim said it was in the light of these challenges that he personally sought the assistance of a company to supply some of the basic equipment needed for such surgeries at the TTH.

He appealed to the government and other institutions to come to the aid of the hospital.

Mrs Attivor commended the doctors and staff of the TTH for their quick response in attending to the accident victims and saving the lives of some.

She said the government was committed to improving upon health delivery in the country, adding that when the construction works at the TTH was completed it would be equipped with all the needed facilities to enhance the doctors' work.

The Deputy Minister presented GHc 20,000.00 to the hospital administration to help facilitate the transportation of the accident victims whose cases were referred to Komfo-Anokye and or Korle-bu Teaching hospitals.

Dr Solomon Gumanga, Acting Chief Executive Officer of the TTH, commended the Minister for her sympathy and encouragement to the accident victims and assured that doctors at the hospital would always live up to their responsibilities.

He also thanked the Minister for the donation and promised to use it to facilitate the early transportation of the patients.

Mrs Attivor and her entourage later visited the families of the late Samuel Abane, a reporter of the Enquirer newspaper and the driver of the Metro-Mass bus who lost their lives in the accident.

GNA