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Probe 10 Year Old Boy’s Death Now

By Daily Guide
Editorial Probe 10 Year Old Boys Death Now
SEP 18, 2017 LISTEN

News about the death of a ten year-old boy at the Tema General Hospital through an overdose of a medicinal drug last week demands a probe into the avoidable fatality.

The circumstances of the boy's death as contained in a news story in the DAILY GUIDE in our edition of Friday September, 15, 2017 is most reprehensible and calls for a high-level investigation by independent pharmacists and doctors outside the health facility where the alleged overdose and subsequent fatality took place.

Considering the last words from the dying boy we are left with no doubt in our minds that he could have become delirious through possible overdose as being alleged.

The heart of a mother has been broken and would take a long time to mend. The occurrence is also an indication that the dosage of drugs administered to us when we are ill or when we take to self-medication can be fatal when not done professionally by persons who understand drugs.

We are also worried that it is likely that there have been similar instances of fatalities as a result of wrong dosages or even incompatibility of drugs across the country.

It is even more worrying and scary that this incident occurred in a government health facility where, by and large, best practices are expected to be the norm.

We share the grief of the parents of the little boy even as we pray that they would be imbued with the fortitude to bear the loss brought upon them through drug abuse, as it were ironically, at the hands of professionals who should have known better.

We do not intend jumping the gun and would prefer waiting for the outcome of the investigations necessary to isolate the real cause of death.

If indeed a reckless administration of the drug in question is established as the cause of death, the necessary sanctions should be applied to prevent a recurrence. It would also be important that the hospital authorities, indeed, the Health Ministry go beyond the subject in question to find out how drugs have been dispensed to patients over the past few years.

This case must not be swept under the carpet. To ensure a transparent process, we would rather independent professionals from another health facility with a representative of the Health Ministry take up this issue.

With the integrity of the health facility and delivery system in general impugned by this occurrence, a lot needs to be done to restore the lost confidence in the Tema General Hospital.

Only God knows how many fatalities have occurred through such recklessness especially since we are in a country where patients can hardly pose questions to doctors or nurses about medications being administered to them and even reactions to drugs.

This is an opportunity for us to find out more about drug administration and how to make it possible for patients to talk to their doctors without apprehension of being scolded unnecessarily.

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