Dr. Kofi Dankyi Beeko
12 November 2008
IN an article in The Chronicle on the June 11, 2008, the author exercised his right as a citizen, to express his opinion on the issue of "June 4th". Having then done so, there is not the need, to re-iterate it all, as per the stuff on June 11.
For Centuries to come, if not indeed, for Millennia, June 4th will stay with us, and future generations both home and abroad, are certainly going to talk about it, write about it, and give it any treatment, that it may deserve. It is going to be an academic landmark for intellectuals to discuss, long after us, (the generations that saw it, live).
On the talked-about June 4, the headline in a rival paper to The Chronicle went like this: "JJ off to South Africa for Medical Check-up." Well, it is his right, and perhaps, an "inalienable" right too. The indelible date in our history is believed by some intellectuals, to be a landmark, similar to the French revolution. Its intention, was to engage the country in a "forward-march-gear", which would send the country which after Independence , and after the "up-rising" that derailed the first Republic, would rejuvenate the country.
If so, how do we manage to send "everybody we think matters, to somewhere else, including another country in Africa , FOR MEDICAL CHECK-UP, thirty years after a corrective bloody revolution? Anything wrong with our own institutions? Anything wrong with our own sons and daughters in medical practice?
Indeed, the yard-stick of success in the country, is now "when you can travel overseas, for medical check-up", someone made me wiser on that recently. Really, anything wrong with our hospitals, and doctors? Among our doctors are some of the finest in the world. My worry has always been, what happens to the ordinary man/woman in the street, who for obvious reasons, cannot be sent to Jo-burg, or go by himself/herself? God help him? Far fields look greener, so the saying goes. But, perhaps, the whole stuff may not be taken at face value. When we think in that direction, let me say a word or two, about the deaths of three particular individuals in 2008, that have did particularly worry me, in our Republic, whereby anywhere else, big question marks would have been put, as to why they could not be saved. They needn't have perished, in some other place, like Malaysia , or Singapore . Don't mention the mighty USA this time.
Look at the case of the 61 year-old mother of seven children, the youngest of whom is a newly qualified doctor, trying to put his Internship program together in the nation's capital, after which he, like myriads of his compatriots, would seek "greener pastures" elsewhere.
He gets a call one fateful evening that his mother has been admitted into hospital, not the one he is working at. He makes haste to where his mom is said to be, and finds her in a hospital bed, with a drip in place. Whilst he talks to his colleague who set the drip, and discusses with him the intension of having his mom transferred to the hospital he is attached to, the lady goes into a cardiac arrest, and dies.
Then there was another 61-year-old retired Academic, also diabetic. He enters a prominent health institution, again in the nation's capital, but passes away, under similar circumstances, whilst a mosaic of hospital-staff watches on, or trying to something, with limitations. Nor was it all. A prominent ex-political juggernaut enters another prominent health-care institution, this time, away from the nation's capital. A family member narrates; her loved one drove himself into the institution, with "generalized abdominal pain", and is pronounced dead, less than an hour, after the admission. He too, was found to be diabetic.
Death is possible, even in hospitals, and hospitals are the place, where most deaths occur. Viewing the above stuff narrated, whom would it surprise, when people shun our healing institutions? These days, the ordinary man in the street may be so informed about his disease entity, such that, when a Physician is encountered, he, (the Physician) better be sure of everything he says, so as not to "embarrass" himself. A lady I recently met at a social gathering said the following: "In America , the doctor at the casualty always samples his patient's blood quickly, when he receives him in coma, or in restlessness. Whilst he samples the blood, he injects some glucose. Very quickly, he receives the results, which informs him about the sugar status, plus Potassium. If Potassium is too little, they inject Potassium as well. I am told his heart will stop beating, when there is too little Potassium. They will keep on checking Potassium, the moment they should give the patient Insulin, (the hormone manufactured by some cells from a portion of the Pancreas), because Potassium tends to "move away", with Insulin" Well, that would pass any exam, even if not with distinction. The young doctor at the casualty in our country knows this stuff much better, only his institution may not have a Chemical analyzer, or if they had one, there may not be any reagents, or power may be out, etc.
In other words, the condition in a typical casualty recovery ward of our country is perennially in pretty bad shape. People tend to "walk away", if they can. In the situation of the erstwhile Head of State of a neighboring country, the jet-machine to fly him elsewhere could not take off, before he suffered a fatal Cardio-Pulmonary Arrest.
This parlance means, your heart and lungs both stop functioning. Under stationary conditions, this may be reversed by a properly trained team, with adequate equipment. This is a condition, which is seldom fulfilled in our country.
If your curiosity is on heat, and you want to know more, just come along. The machines are not cheap, and the staff would demand high wages, if you had them. There are countries that can afford these facilities locally than we can, (or let's think we can). It is not always America , or Germany or Japan . Scandinavian countries did set the pace for intensive care and "life-support" facilities following World War II. It all started with a high incidence of suicide in those countries. They very quickly managed to get you out of come, after barbiturate intoxication. The first artificial respirator, (Byrd), was made in Scandinavia . Blood gas analyzer, (Astrõp), also of Scandinavian origin. They all took the lead, in front of America , where "the biggest money" in the world sat, and from where pieces were cut, for the rest of the world. The lesson should be that, "policies and aims" might pay off.
What might we do, to invoke public-confidence in the health care delivery? There must be more such questions than answers. Perhaps, dialogues might be beneficial. Medicine being a science will require scientific dialogues.
At an international conference in Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia almost a decade ago, the banks held a stage in the main lobby, "courting" doctors from their community and the neighborhood, to make use of their financial offers, to build up their institutions. If it's true this has reached here in Ghana also, then that might be the beginning of a climb. I would like to see the former Head of State, look inside Ghana , for solutions to any health problems he might encounter. We, in that profession, can deliver the goods just like in Jo-burg. We only need to be equipped.
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