I am concerned about the quality and timeliness of emergency medical care at the Koforidua Regional Hospital.
My concern is due to my personal experience when I rushed my sister to the hospital.
In the morning of July 14, 2025, my sister began showing symptoms of stroke, including slurred speech.
Fearing she was about to suffer from a stroke, I transported her and her husband to the Regional Hospital in Koforidua and alerted the nurses in the emergency department that her condition required urgent attention.
Hospital staff provided a bed in the emergency room and assured me that a doctor would attend to her.
Believing that she was receiving appropriate care, I left for the Accra International Airport to pick up a friend arriving from Toronto.
Later in the evening, when I contacted my brother-in-law at the hospital, I was told that several hours passed before a physician attended to my sister.
After undergoing a CT scan, she was prescribed medication to lower her blood pressure and discharged home.
The following morning, her condition deteriorated dramatically.
While she had been able to walk and communicate, despite her speech difficulties the previous day, she was now unable to walk or speak.
She was rushed back to the same hospital and admitted to a ward.
Later in the evening, around 6, I called my brother-in-law only to be told that hours after her admission, my sister had still not received medication, food, water, or a physician's assessment.
Alarmed by the situation, I drove nearly two hours to the hospital that evening.
Upon arrival, I questioned the ward nurse about the lack of treatment.
The nurse explained that no medication had been prescribed by a doctor so there wasn’t anything she could do.
I hurried to the office of the doctor on duty and asked him whether he wanted my sister to die.
When he asked me why I said that, I notified him that since my sister was admitted to the ward in the morning, she had not received any food, water nor physician's assessment. I emphasised that my sister's condition was an emergency.
The doctor then accompanied me to the ward, where a feeding tube was inserted and my sister was given some nourishment (Hausa koko).
The physician later reviewed her CT scan results and informed me that she had suffered a stroke caused by blood clots.
He also clarified that he had not been the physician on duty during her initial hospital visit.
I believe that a prompt intervention at the first visit to the hospital could have dissolved the clots and prevented the stroke.
Several questions remain unanswered, including whether the clotting identified on the scan required more urgent intervention, why the patient was discharged after the initial visit, and whether the imaging results were fully reviewed before she was asked to go home the previous day.
Thus, if the doctor at the emergency room knew that my sister had clots in her brain artery, why did he ask her to go home instead of dissolving the clots?
Today, more than a year after the stroke, my sister remains unable to walk and continues to experience significant speech difficulties.
While acknowledging the heavy workload faced by healthcare professionals in Ghana, I believe this case highlights the critical importance of rapid assessment and treatment in stroke emergencies.
Delays in care can have devastating consequences and for that matter, I am calling for stronger systems to ensure that patients with urgent medical conditions receive timely attention and the best available treatment.
Medical experts widely recognise that stroke treatment is highly time-sensitive, with early intervention often playing a crucial role in reducing long-term disability and improving patient outcomes.
I hope that my sister’s experience will contribute to broader discussions about emergency care standards and patient safety in Ghana's healthcare system.
Kwaku Obosu-Mensah.
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