Uneasy calm at LEKMA Hospital over COVID-19 case

Activity at the LEKMA Hospital at Teshie has slowed down a day after it was reported that a medical doctor at the facility had tested positive to the coronavirus infection (COVID-19).

Last Monday, the consulting room and the theatre where the doctor had worked were disinfected, but that did not seem to encourage patients and clients as many decided to stay away for now.

When the Daily Graphic visited the hospital yesterday, it observed that the usually busy facility did not have many people around and the car park which was usually fully occupied was almost empty.

Efforts to get management of the hospital to talk about the issue was not successful as they were locked in a meeting, but a source close to the hospital who spoke to the Daily Graphic said “management has handled the issue and the affected place has been disinfected. It is not dangerous, if it were, we would have closed down temporarily to deal with it.”

First doctor

The doctor, the first frontline medical staff to have tested positive in Ghana had the status confirmed from a routine screening for all medical staff of the hospital.

The source, who denied that the doctor might have picked the infection from the LEKMA Hospital, explained that he might have picked it from another engagement as the doctor was involved in a screening exercise of some travellers who arrived in the country  

“Due to the fact that medical officers risk contracting the disease, a decision was taken that all those involved in the screening also undergo screening. It was from that exercise that the doctor’s screening result came out as COVID-19 positive although he is asymptomatic’.

Vulnerable

Some patients in the facility, who spoke to the Daily Graphic, said they didn’t feel safe seeking services at the hospital after the news was confirmed.

One patient, Mr Bismark Ansah, who was wearing a nose mask and gloves said , “my wife didn’t want me to come to the hospital for treatment today because she had heard a doctor here had been confirmed positive and was scared that in trying to treat my current ailment, I might end up contracting this new disease which is worse”.

One of the nurses also admitted that she felt very vulnerable although the facility had put measures in place to ensure that staff were safe.

She also admitted that the situation was deterring people from coming to seek care at the hospital.