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.
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