Ebola scare kills 2 in Ghana (PHOTOS)

• Posted on November 19, 2014November 19, 2014
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

Two patients died at the Tema General Hospital and the 37 Military Hospital after health officials allegedly refused to attend to them due to fear of the deadly Ebola Virus.

The names of the deceased were given as  Warrant Officer (WO1) Peter Azubire Atibire, 47, and Mary Adantey, 35.

WO1 Peter Azubire Atibire and another soldier were quarantined at the 37 Military Hospital last Tuesday when they fell ill while on a peace-keeping mission in Mali.

Reports said the deceased was conveyed to a hospital in Mali where some people, including an Iman, were killed by the deadly disease.

Even though the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) later confirmed negative the status of two soldiers quarantined at the 37 Military Hospital in Accra – after their blood samples were sent to the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR) at the University of Ghana, Legon – it was too late to save WO1 Atibire.

The relatives of the deceased have accused the hospital of causing the death of the officer who was expected to retire soon.

According to them, negligence on the part of nurses and doctors at the 37 Military Hospital resulted in the death of their relative.

Roland Awelinga, cousin of the deceased, who spoke to DAILY GUIDE  said, “Our late brother died because he was not attended to by the doctors and nurses in-charge due to Ebola suspicion.”

Explaining further, he said initially when their relative was sent to the hospital, he was admitted at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) but later transferred to Bandor Ward where he was abandoned by the health officials.

Surprisingly, the 37 Military Hospital has an Ebola Centre but the soldier was not transported there.

“We inquired from the doctors and nurses why they transferred him to a different ward but they refused to give us answers. We wanted to see him too but they refused.

“Suddenly, we heard rumours at the hospital that our relative has Ebola that was why he was transferred from ICU to the other ward. Nobody was attending to him at the new ward. We kept pressuring the nurse to tell us why they were not attending to him but  to no avail,” Mr. Awelinga said.

He continued, “We pleaded with the medical officers to attend to our relative because he was dying but one of the officers told us that they could not attend to him until the result of the tests at the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research was brought,” he said.

Later one of the nurses came out of the ward and told her colleague that WO1 Atibire was foaming but none of the nurses attempted going close to him.

“Quickly, we went to see the administrator because we were worried. The administrator took us to one of the officers who told us that they were waiting for the Ebola test result before they could attend to him.

“Later we heard that our relative had passed on because he was not attended to. One of the officers told us that the Ebola test result proved negative and that our relative died of stroke.

“We believe that if our relative was given proper medical attention even at the time he was foaming, he wouldn’t have died,” he said.

Mr. Awelinga said the sudden death of their relative resulted in the demise of his sister, Salamatu Asampana.

The late Asampana died yesterday at about 3am after she heard news of the demise of her brother.

Mr. Awelinga said, “The family has lost two relatives because of the negligence of the doctors and nurse at 37 Hospital. We are demanding our relative from the hospital.”

The late WO1 Peter Azubire Atibire left behind two girls and a boy.

Tema Case

The late Mary Adantey, 35, also died at the Tema General Hospital in October due to the lack of medical attention when she was suspected to have contracted the Ebola Virus.

Narrating the incident to DAILY GUIDE, Robert Adantey, brother of the deceased, said her late sister returned to Ghana from South Africa in early October and fell ill.

He said the deceased was conveyed to Crystal Hospital at Ashiaman and was later transferred to Tema General Hospital.

Mr. Adantey said the doctor and the nurses at the hospital refused to attend to her because she was suspected to have contracted the Ebola Virus.

“The doctors told us to wait for an Ebola test to be carried before they could attend to her. After several hours of waiting my sister went into Coma and subsequently died.”

“When the Ebola test result came, the doctor told us it was negative and that the deceased did not contract the disease but she died of Septicemia.”

The late Mary Adantey left behind two girls.

By Cephas Larbi