CONNAUGHT HOSPITAL IN SHAMBLES
By Ibrahim Alusine Kamara
On Thursday last week, a total of nine (9) patients at a go are said to have died at the Connaught Teaching Hospital’s Observation Ward (Ward 4) as a result of grave administrative lapses on the part of the hospital management.
Reports state that the said patients died as a result of power outage that continues to overwhelm the capital, Freetown and the lack of fuel in the Standby Generator of the hospital.
Investigation mounted by this medium revealed that the death rate of patients at the Connaught Hospital has hit and unprecedented high due to poor management.
The failure of the hospital management to provide adequate fuel for the standby generator, the lack of medical equipment and drugs are all reasons for the current state of affairs at the hospital.
While the lack of electricity supply remains an impediment to operations, the management of the hospital seems incompetent to handle the affairs of the hospital as there continues to be too many grave lapses.
As things stands, situation at the hospital is nothing to write home about as there appears to be no life-saving equipment, drugs and money in the coffers of the hospital to buy fuel and other much-needed care services.
As for the mortuary service, there is a reported shortage of formalin to preserve corpses coupled with the seeming negligence of some mortuary staff in performing their duties.
Although it is not acceptable for staff of the Mortuary to receive monies physically, there are complaints from members of the public that they have been paying monies to Mortuary staff for services which they are not getting.
In one instance, family members of some of the nine patients that died on Thursday as a result of power outage and the failure of the hospital to provide fuel for the Standby Generator complained that they paid monies to some mortuary staff for the bodies of their loved ones to be embalmed but that was not done.
In another instance, a doctor at the Connaught Hospital who involved in an accident while rushing to come see his patients, died as a result of lack of oxygen and electricity supply at the hospital. When he was brought in, investigation reveals, there was no oxygen at the time to help save the doctor’s life.
Judging from what is unfolding at the Connaught Hospital, it is clear that most of the deaths occurring there are as a result of poor management.
Speaking to this writer via phone, the Acting Manager of Mortuary Service, Dr. Amin Sesay, confirmed the death of the nine patients but said their death was as a result of the terrible conditions there were before they were brought at the hospital. He also confirmed the lack of fuel in the hospital’s standby generator but said it was a normal administrative lapse which may have been caused by absence of some key staff among other factors.
On his part, the Chief Medical Officer whilst responding to media queries stated that he could not deny or confirm the allegations at the time but disclosed that they were instituting an urgent investigation into the issues.