Lack Of Doctors Closes Tema Hospital Labour Ward

The Labour Ward of the Tema General Hospital has been closed down, denying women in labour who report there the needed attention.
The closure, which took effect from May 7, has resulted in women in labour being rushed to the Ridge or Korle Bu Teaching hospitals in Accra.
Some concerned medical officers, nurses and other para-medical staff have therefore called for immediate action to save the hospital to avoid imminent deaths. According to the paper, hand-written notices posted at the Out Patients Department (OPD), Labour and Lying-in Wards read: “Because of severe medical staff shortages in the Maternity Unit, we are unable to provide 24 hour emergency obstetric/Gynecological cases, especially for labour cases.” General Hospital refers expectant mothers...due to doctor shortage Tema, May 18, GNA - Shortage of doctors at the Tema General Hospital (TGH) has compelled the authorities to refer expecting mothers who reported there to other hospitals, according to management sources.
Dr Solomon Otu-Tawiah, Acting Medical Superintendent in charge of the hospital said the hospital's maternity ward had only two medical doctors and that the decision to refer expecting mothers was to avert total collapse as a result of the workload.
He said the doctors had been working under serious constraints, adding that apart from attending to patients on admission, they are also responsible for outpatients.
Dr Otu-Tawiah described the months of April, May and June as the peak season for deliveries and that with only two doctors, there was the need for a strategy so as to avoid patients and their relatives accusing the hospital of inefficiency.
"It is best for the patients to go somewhere than to admit them without a doctor," he told a group of journalists who were on a fact-finding mission at the hospital.
For example, in April alone, the doctors attended to 600 patients including operation cases, he said, adding that this was too much for only two doctors.