You should consider yourself fortunate to have been allotted a bed while undergoing treatment at the Daboya Health Centre in the Savannah Region.
This is due to the health facility’s serious bed deficit. Due to a lack of beds, healthcare providers have been forced to discharge in-patients on an hourly basis.
While some admitted patients wait their turn on benches, others are forced to undergo treatment in plastic chairs.
Hospital beds serve a vital part in healthcare by allowing patients to be as comfortable as possible.
However, its absence has a negative influence on patients’ health.
This has been a serious source of concern for in-patients at the Daboya and Mankarigu health centres.
A patient admitted to the Daboya Health Centre will be fortunate to be given a bed to lie on.
Nurses must release patients every hour to make room for those who are waiting on benches.
others with serious ailments take over the beds, while others with lesser diseases are forced to sit on plastic chairs.
Kwame Ebenezer, a nurse practitioner at the Daboya Health Centre, laments the dismal condition.
“One of our main challenges is the bedding situation because you have cases you have to detain and take care of and the question is where does the patient lie?
“We have to resort to a situation whereby someone will lie for two hours when you stabilize the situation then you discharge so is more like a shifting thing”
Issahaku Ramatu, a Daboya resident, was forced to take her infusion in a plastic chair since she couldn’t find a bed to rest on.
“I was told the beds were full and needed to wait for some time for them to discharge someone and I couldn’t wait so I opted to sit in this plastic chair. How can you be well in this situation?”
Emmanuel Osei has been employed at the Daboya Health Institution for three years.
He believes that the mattress scenario is harmful to healthcare delivery.
Even at the Mankarigu Health Centre, the situation appears to be bad.
Some patients are treated under trees here.
The health clinics in Daboya and Mankargu all function as referral centres for the North Gonja District.
With more than 15 patients admitted to each facility on a daily basis, the availability of beds for patient usage remains an issue.
The scenario is frustrating for patients, families, and locals.
“Our MP is a deputy minister of health and we don’t know his seriousness level on this issue.”
In a phone chat, Alhaji Asei Seini, MP for the area and Deputy Minister of Health described the situation as regrettable but pledged that beds would be sent to the hospital within a few weeks.
“I distributed some beds a few days ago and still have more at the central medical store in Accra but I think the challenge is the space to keep them. I will dispatch the other beds within a week to address the entire bedding situation.
“We are facing this challenge be sit here is no hospital but with the springing up of the agenda 111 Hospital, we shall soon overcome these challenges.”
By 2030, Sustainable Development Goal 3 aims to achieve universal health coverage, which includes access to quality essential healthcare services as well as safe, effective, high-quality, and affordable necessary medications and vaccinations.
However, challenges such as no-bed syndrome would jeopardise the country’s health benefits and may widen the gap towards meeting the quality health target.
