Prompt action by authorities of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) at the weekend saved the life of a two-year-old girl whose throat was accidentally blocked by some grains of maize she was eating.
Faced with lack of medical equipment and logistics to perform an emergency surgical operation for the child, who encountered severe respiratory difficulties, the KATH authorities quickly flew her from Kumasi to Accra, rushed her to the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) for the emergency surgical operation.
The airfare and medical expenses were borne by the KATH authorities because the parents of the patient, who are farmers, could not afford the expenses.
Prior to flying the baby to KBTH for the emergency surgical operation, a medical team at the KATH put her on a ventilator, resuscitated and stabilised her condition.
Briefing the Daily Graphic about the intervention, the acting Chief Executive of KATH, Professor Ohene Adjei, said a medical team led by Dr William Addison had to accompany the baby “ because she was in a life-threatening situation, and had to be put on respiratory support and monitored throughout the journey”.
Explaining further, Professor Adjei said, “ our management had to bear the cost of airfare because it would have been too dangerous and risky to have conveyed her in an ambulance, especially given her unstable condition and the time it would have taken to reach Accra”.
Professor Adjei expressed his profound gratitude to the National Ambulance Service (NAS) which provided service by conveying the KATH medical team and the baby from the Kotoka International Airport to the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital.
He also commended the Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) and the Anaesthesia units of the KBTH “for being on stand-by to receive and treat the patient immediately upon arrival, even though it was a weekend”.
“The co-ordination between our medical team and that of the NAS and KATH was simply impressive, and it is my hope that we will continue to collaborate in the years ahead to save lives,” Professor Adjei noted.
The father of the patient, Mr Kwabena Sanseh, a farmer based at Derma in the Brong-Ahafo Region, was also full of appreciation to the KATH authorities, adding, “There was no way that my baby would have survived this predicament without the kind and quick intervention of the KATH authorities.”
“My baby was breathless and almost at the point of death, but doctors at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the KATH worked around the clock to revive her, and also accompanied her and my wife to Accra, all at the expense of the hospital. I am very grateful to them for saving my baby”, he said.
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