A recent COVID-19 patient who received critical care at the Ga East and later elected to be transferred to the 37 Military Hospital has issued a damning condemnation of the service at the former while praising that of the latter when it comes to COVID-19 care.
Dr. Tilly Effie Brako detailed in an interview with DNT factors that may be responsible for the recent uptick in COVID-19 death rates that have impacted Ghana’s overall pandemic numbers.
The Ghana government has been exemplary in its COVID-19 fight and Ghana’s numbers have been consistently better than her peers in the region until the recent spike.
In addition to the exemplary management of the pandemic, the government built, and Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia commissioned in July of 2020, the Infectious Disease Center in Ga East in record time to cater for Covid-19 patients.
Establishment of the center was facilitated by the Ghana COVID-19 Private Sector Fund in collaboration with the Ghana Armed Forces at the Ga East Municipal Hospital in Accra. Visitors to the facility are full of praise for how it has been equipped like any modern hospital that you would find in developed countries.
But according to Dr. Tilly Brako, the service at the Ga East facility is a far cry from its modernity. So starkly different was the treatment she received at the Ga East facility from the 37 Military Hospital that she has vowed to shout from the roof tops to anyone who wants to hear.
“People are dying at Ga East not from COViD but from neglect,” said the doctor of 37 years who has been on both sides of COVID-19 care. “Before I became a COVID patients, I was treating COVID children in Ohio,” she pointed out. “And what I saw at Ga East was simply unbelievable.”
In the interview where Dr. Brako detailed a tale of two hospitals, she had nothing but praises for the staff at the 37 Military Hospital which she credits for saving her life.
Upon arrival at 37, Dr. Brako said she was immediately attended to by one Dr. Opoku whose professionalism was superb. Dr. Opoku reportedly said “Madam I’m going to help you out and make sure you leave here alive.”
From there Dr. Brako reports that every member of the staff was responsive including the orderly (janitor to the rest of us), who promptly fetched a bed pan for the patient when she needed one.
Because of Dr. Opoku’s professionalism, Dr. Brako has decided that she will donate a refillable canister that she used later at home to get well to the hospital. She also plans to communicate with the young doctor, whom she describes as “the only one who acted like a doctor” throughout my ordeal.
Dr. Tilly Brako is now a fan of the 37 Military Hospital and plans to work with them when she returns to her practice in United States.
DNT News, Accra
