Blood missing at Navrongo Hospital

• Posted on December 1, 2014December 1, 2014
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

Pints of blood at the blood bank of War Memorial Hospital at Navrongo in the Kasena-Nankana District capital of the Upper East Region, have gone missing under bizarre circumstances.

The blood packaged in 500mls, it is uncovered, formed part of several donations by residents in and around the district in response to several requests by the authorities of the hospital for them to help to stock the depleting blood bank.

The donated blood which is supposed to be stored at the blood bank pending when it is required for use on several occasions disappeared and the caretakers at the hospital’s laboratory are unable to trace its whereabouts.

Staggering revelations from DAILY GUIDE’s investigations at the facility linked staff of the laboratory and the account’s department suggested to be engaged in the stealing and sale of the blood to patients.

Members of the cartel involving some senior officers who until their cover was blown were enriching themselves at the expense of the hospital.

They were captured warning their clients never to disclose the source of blood they sold to them for fear that hospital authorities were tracking them.

The Medical Director of the Hospital, Dr Freeman Samane, who confirmed the findings of DAILY GUIDE, disclosed that three staff cited for their roles in the blood stealing syndicate have since been dismissed.

He also disclosed that others believed to be linked were issued verbal warnings, with another batch forfeiting their salary for a month and those who are not merchandised given less busy schedules to serve as a deterrent to other staff.

According to him, the facility occasionally organises blood donation exercises when it was realised that the loss of blood among expectant mothers accounted for the high mortality rate among them.

Dr Samane said most of the women before they arrive at the facility were always discovered to have bled profusely “and therefore it is appropriate to have blood in stock to save such mothers.”

He, however, bemoaned the fact that the donated blood for this purpose had consistently been stolen and sold by staff of the facility, “defeating the purpose for which it is being donated for.”

The Medical Director who corroborated DAILY GUIDE’s story said in time past, some unnamed staff were caught selling blood to Fulanis.

Dr Samane disclosed that stealing in itself was on the rise within facility, citing instances where even folders were stolen by personnel at the records department and sold out to patients before they could access healthcare.

Unserviceable equipment packed at various locations within the precincts of the facility, he added, have not been spared by the thieves who sometimes scale the fence wall of the hospital to steal.

He said a number of the thieves upon their arrest, claimed they were acting on the instructions of senior officers, expressing worry at the canker where soap gets missing at the laundry.

Corrupt practices, he disclosed, have even been witnessed at the hospital’s morgue where mortuary men charge relations of deceased persons exorbitantly before releasing dead bodies to them for burial yet such monies were not accounted to the facility. He, however, promised to put in measures to check the stealing canker that had rocked the facility, warning
that security personnel have been put on the high alert and anyone including staff caught would be dealt with.

From Stephen Zoure, Tamale