The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has announced that it has begun investigating a reported incident of patient abandonment in a bush at Gomoa Ojobi in the Central Region. Rumors of the alleged abandonment surfaced on Thursday, June 13, with a circulating video purporting to show a woman wrapped in sheets and left in a bush.
Social media users claimed that the woman was abandoned by an ambulance from the Trauma and Specialist Hospital in Winneba. On Friday, June 14, the GHS Director-General, Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, issued a statement confirming the investigation.
The statement aimed to establish the authenticity of the story and take appropriate action. The GHS leadership expressed concern over the allegations and initiated an investigation in line with public service practices.
The statement revealed that the patient was allegedly abandoned in a wheelchair at Ojobi, her claimed hometown, after relatives failed to show up at the hospital. The GHS appealed to the public to be patient, promising severe consequences for anyone found connected to the incident, in accordance with the Service’s Code of Conduct.
Here is the full statement:
“RE: PATIENT ALLEGEDLY ABANDONED IN A BUSH AT GOMOA OJOBI
The attention of leadership of the Ghana Health Service has been drawn to a media story about a patient allegedly abandoned in a bush at Gomoa Ojobi in the Central Region.
According to the story, it is alleged that the said patient was on admission at the Trauma and Specialist Hospital in Winneba and after her relatives had failed to show up, she was conveyed in the hospital’s ambulance and left in a wheelchair at Ojobi where she claimed to be her hometown, and was later found dead.
The Service upon receiving this disturbing news, has initiated investigations into the matter to establish the authenticity or otherwise of the story in line with the existing practices in the public service to enable it take appropriate action(s).
The Service wishes to appeal to the general public to be patient as anyone found to be connected with this unfortunate incident will be severely dealt with in accordance with provisions of the Service’s Code of Conduct.”
The investigation is ongoing, and the GHS will take appropriate action once the facts are established.
