Korle Bu Doctors Did Their Best But The System Failed Us – Mother Of Deceased 13-Year-Old Boy Recounts
Mother of a 13-year-old boy who died of complications from brain surgery at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Cordelia Ama Selormey has shared her experience.
Michael Kofi Asiamah, unfortunately, gave up the ghost on April 9, 2021, while receiving treatment after undergoing two successful surgeries to remove a brain tumour at the nation’s premier hospital. He was buried on Saturday, May 8, 2021.
His mother narrated that the doctors did everything they could to save Michael’s life, but the neurosurgical unit lacked essential medical equipment.
“I had absolute confidence in the doctors at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital. The doctors did not let us down, but the system did,” she lamented.
While narrating the heart-wrenching story, Cordelia said the medical equipment that will enable access to the brain through the nasal cavity was lacking.
“The doctors gave us two options. Either to cut the head open or to go through the nose. Now, going through the nose, the particular equipment used to take out the tumour was not owned by Korle Bu. It was for one of the doctors, and so you can imagine a situation where doctors have to do minimal invasion to remove a tumour, but because they do not own this equipment, they will have to cut the head open,” she narrated.
“I don’t think the neurosurgical unit at Korle Bu is a priority to any government, and I am saying this with so much pain…,” the bereaved mother said amidst tears.
The 13-year-old suffered complications from the surgery and needed a defibrillator to resuscitate his heart, but the country’s foremost referral hospital did not have one.
“Doctors spent close to 40 minutes trying to resuscitate his heart manually because there was no defibrillator to use.”
“Again, Michael shouldn’t have been taken off the ICU bed in the first place. Not within 24 hours after surgery, but there was another major surgery… the entire Korle Bu has only four ICU beds,” she revealed while still shedding tears on Accra-based Citi FM during an interview monitored by myactiveonline.com.
The death of Michael comes after years of reported cases of the shortage of recovery beds at the referral hospital. Authorities are yet to address the problem which has persisted for several years.
By: Stella Annan | myactiveonline.com Twitter @activetvgh
