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| A signpost of the Hospital, curled from online |
From Monday, October
31, 2016 to Friday, November 4, 2016, I was stationed at the Accra Psychiatric
Hospital reporting for both 3FM and Onua FM, TV3’s radio stations.
The nurses at the
facility were on strike and as I write this piece they have not called off
their strike yet. Although they prefer the media not referring to their action
as ‘strike,’ so it has been reported.
The nurses, prior to
their strike action, had complained about poor working conditions. Such complaints
were the lack of basic supplies like detergents, gloves and medication to suppress
aggressive patients.
On October 21, it was
reported that an aggressive patient landed a blow in the abdomen of a nurse. She
was hospitalised at the Ridge hospital afterwards.
This poor condition of service
persisting, the nurses withdrew their services describing such an action as
staying away from ‘dangerous working environment.’
I have been to a number
of hospitals and I have always admired the work nurses and other health
officials render. However, owing to my few days at the Accra Psychiatric
Hospital, my respect for the psychiatric nurse and their other colleagues has
doubled.
“Please turn. Don’t
give them your back,” said Dr. Susana Seffah, a Resident Psychiatrist.
It was at the Special
Ward of the Accra Psychiatric Hospital where Dr. Susana together with her colleagues
were setting up to interview/examine some patients. Those to be found ‘sound’
would be discharged to go home.
The doctors were
looking at getting about 250 to 300 patients to pass this exercise. And Dr.
Susana would grant me interview on the development.
However, little did I know
that I needed to face the patients, at the ward, in a special way.
“Please, stand with me
to this direction. Let’s face them [patients] while you interview me. It’s
always advisable you face them so you see whatever is happening,” she again
said to me.
Indeed,
every occupation has its own potential hazards but some occupational hazards supersede
others. For the psychiatric nurse, their job is like being set before them a
lion.
Former Chief Executive Officer of
the Accra Psychiatric Hospital, Dr. Akwasi Osei had once backed the nurses
making reference to how dangerous their work is. He was speaking on 3FM’s
morning show called Sunrise.
One
is, therefore, not surprised the nurses asking for, among other things, medication
that calms down aggressive patients.
But
the situation does not seem they are seeking their own good to the detriment of
their patients. Interviewing the spokesperson of the nurses, Frimpong Okyere, on
a number of occasions, I realized how dear these patients are to the nurses.
“Nurses
do not use the medication we are requesting. Whereas it will help us do our
work on one hand, it is for the greater good of the patients,” he said.
On
Wednesday, November 2, in few minutes before reporting live on 3FM, I had
engaged a British researcher interviewing her on why she chose the Accra
Psychiatric Hospital as her case study and also to get her comments on the
hospital’s blues.
Ursula
Read said she has been researching in Ghana for some time now but she is very
much passionate about mental health issues. On commenting on the challenges the
hospital is going through, she spoke so passionately on why Ghana must place
value on mental health as we do with other sectors of health.
She
was making good reasoning on the issue and I had told her I will again
interview her on air. It was not long to our on-air interview that Ursula burst
into tears.
“These
patients should not be left like this … I am not a Ghanaian but I will call on
the government to come to the rescue of the hospital,” said Ursula as she
pulled a handkerchief from her bag to wipe her tears.
Sadly
enough, the government, led by President John Dramani Mahama, that Ursula
called on for support for the hospital, says it had no idea of the development.
Speaking
on Ghana Broadcasting Corporation’s radio station, Sunrise, in the Eastern
region, President Mahama confessed he had not heard of the Accra Psychiatric
Hospital’s back and forth.
“No, it hasn’t come to my attention
yet. But I do know that the area of mental health is one of the areas we need
to focus [our] attention,” he said.
Some, on social media, jabbed the President
making fun of his comment that he hears every supposed insults hurled at him by
the opposition but not the cry of the Accra Psychiatric Hospital.
Interesting. Isn’t it? But I am not
surprised a bit. Here in Africa and Ghana, we are mostly unconcerned about that
which needs urgent attention. We would rather politically ‘dance’ with state
resources while pressing needs look us in the face.
Yes! Politics conquers all. Did you
not hear on radio, saw on television or perhaps read online/papers that Rebecca
Akufo Addo, the wife of the New Patriotic Party’s flagbearer, Nana Akufo Addo,
made a donation to the Children’s Ward of the Accra Psychiatric Hospital
recently?
It was on November 3, 2016. Donating
anything needful to the hospital in times like this is commendable. However, if
politics leads such a donation to score marks ahead of one’s political opponent
then it becomes a handshake that goes beyond the elbow.
It was disheartening seeing common soft
drinks whose wrappers had been replaced with Nana Addo’s posters. Politicizing health
care, I believe, is tantamount to declaring suicide.
Bashing
the politician in the wake of the Accra Psychiatric Hospital’s hard times, we
cannot leave out [private] organisations that take delight in only sponsoring
nothing but entertainment focused shows with the intention of amassing profit
at the end of the day. Must we be reminded that we all have a part to play in building
our own London and New York here in Ghana?
As
it stands, we look forward to seeing the numerous promises made by the Ministry
of Health and others to the hospital fulfilled in the days ahead.
The writer is a broadcast journalist with 3FM 92.7.
Views expressed here solely remain his opinion and not that of his media
organisation.
Email: nehusthan4@yahoo.com
Twitter: @Aniwaba
