Ghana News-Suntreso Government Hospital in the Ashanti Region, where a pregnant woman lost her life and that of her baby, has initiated an investigation into the incident amid allegations that a doctor demanded a bribe to care for the woman.
Medical Superintendent at the hospital, Dr. Agyarko Poku, has promised management of the health facility that it will apply the appropriate steps to probe the situation.
Angela Afriyie Agyemang’s husband, Solomon Lamo Latiff, is alleging that the fatal incident on Thursday occurred because the doctor in charge delayed a scheduled caesarean section and forced him to pay a “doctor motivation fee” of GH¢500.
Mr. Latiff, a pastor, has vowed to seek redress in court.
However, speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on Wednesday, Dr. Poku said that although the doctor’s account of the event is markedly different from the allegations by the bereaved husband, the hospital is determined to unearth the truth.
He said a preliminary investigation is underway and mentioned that because the woman’s labour was not progressing, a caesarean section was recommended. But due to the number of cases the hospital was dealing with at the time, the C-section delayed.
“It’s a loss of life and we deem it as a very serious issue and we are going to go through all the administrative processes to investigative it,” he said, adding the length of time it took the doctor to attend to the woman will be a scrutinised.
“We need to take our time, go through everything. This is not an issue to be [discussed] on the radio,” he told the Super Morning Show.
He said a mortality audit will be soon be compiled and “an independent body, outside the [hospital], will also come in.”
Bereaved husband’s account
Meanwhile, online portals quote Mr. Latiff as saying during an interview on the radio:
“Thursday I was there, so while I was there, he [the doctor] told me how much I’m going to pay for somethings that the health insurance will not cover…so I said ok. Then he asked how much I was going to give to them. In fact, I understood what he said but I was not so much convinced that that’s what he actually meant.”
“So I asked, what is it? And he said motivation. So I asked him, how much do you take and he said GH¢500. He told me this personally. If I knew this is what was going to happen I would have recorded him …I sat there for about an hour, I didn’t see anything and after some hours I didn’t see anything. By then, my wife had been made to sit inside of the theatre. So after about 3 hours I went to the theatre and asked of what was going on and they told me they were doing some cleaning,” he narrated.
“So it was after I went to the doctor’s office to call him then he came and immediately he entered the theatre, he put my wife in there. He called me and marched me into the theatre and I went there and saw the lifeless body of my wife. I’m not going to end it here. I have decided that after everything is done, I’ll take the matter up. I intend to sue the doctor.”
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