‘Put lives ahead of processes in emergencies’
Hospitals’ demand for atten-dance cards before attending to medical emergencies is contributing to the fatalities in the health sector, the Country Manager of AstraZeneca Pharmaceutical, Mr William Ofori, has observed.
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He asked for a distinction to be made between emergency cases and walk-in patients, pointing out that the most important moments in emergency were between the period a patient was transported to a health facility and when response was received at the facility. “Every second counts and could make a difference,” Mr Ofori said.
He, therefore, called for the establishment of an emergency response fund that would cater for the basic needs of patients during emergencies and the training of health personnel to put lives ahead of such bureaucratic processes.
Scientific conference
Mr Ofori was speaking at the University of Ghana College of Health Sciences 7th Scientific Conference in Accra yesterday.
The three-day conference, on the theme, “Medical Emergencies and Trauma in Ghana: How prepared are we?” brought together researchers and policy makers to deliberate on how to translate various research findings into policies.
Among research topics that will be discussed at the conference are management of coronary heart disease in Ghana, road traffic accidents and the effects on pregnant women, physiotherapy management in trauma and emergencies and stroke in young Ghanaians.
Although data on Ghana’s emergency response is hard to come by, the National Road Safety Commission estimates the country’s emergency response time during road accidents to be between one and three hours.
Mr Ofori observed that in emergency response, the time for getting people to the appropriate healthcare centre, the level of expertise available, the equipment at the facility and monitoring, the response at the hospital and the after care were important ingredients in saving lives.
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According to medical experts, in Ghana, as in many developing countries, the need to improve emergency services has long been recognised but action to improve services has lagged behind.
Mr Ofori said there was the need for centres of excellence to be developed across the country to respond to emergencies as most health facilities in the country were overburdened.
Suggestions
Mr Ofori stressed the need for all health personnel to be trained in the handling of emergencies because, he said, at the point of occurrence of every emergency or trauma, who did what in the first few minutes affected the eventual outcome. He also called for a standard operating procedure in hospitals, both public and private, to ensure standard care across the board.
The Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Prof. Ernest Aryeetey, who opened the conference, bemoaned the weak link between research and policy making in the country.
“It is my hope that the research findings that will be presented by researchers would not be left to gather dust on the shelves but will be used to improve healthcare delivery in Ghana,” he said.
Writer’s email:seth.bokpe@graphic.com.gh