Kwame Akoma, a victim of medical malpractice has narrated how a wrongful diagnosis almost cost his mother’s life.
Having heard people share their bad experiences with medical professionals, Kwame Akoma believed he would be an exception but that did not happen.
Kwame’s mother had been complaining of stomach pain over the past 5 years and due to the discomfort, he rushed her to the Korle Bu Polyclinic where she was taken through an endoscopic procedure.
An endoscopy procedure involves inserting a long, flexible tube (endoscope) down the throat and into the esophagus. A tiny camera on the end of the endoscope lets the doctor examine the esophagus, stomach and the beginning of the small intestine (duodenum).
Describing the procedure as painful, he disclosed his mother was injected with some drugs and asked to go home without being referred to a doctor, as they claimed there was nothing wrong with her.
According to him, his mother was fine and did not complain of any discomfort until a year later.
Sharing his experience with Samuel Eshun on the Happy Morning Show, he said, “A year later my mother started complaining of stomach ache again and I had to take her back to the hospital. An endoscopy procedure was done again and my mother started complain of pain again a month after. We took her to the Korle Bu Polyclinic and this time around the doctor admitted her.”
The doctor requested yet another endoscopy and that was when the doctor informed Kwame Akoma his mother’s intestines were blocked. “The doctor chastised us for waiting so long before bringing her to the hospital. He told us my mother’s condition had gotten worse and that was when I told her the various endoscopies had been interpreted that she was well. My mother was very sick but we were told she was fine and that’s what we experience in our health sector. This must be checked.”
Millions of patients are harmed each year due to unsafe health care worldwide resulting in 2.6 million deaths annually in low-and middle-income countries alone. Most of these deaths are avoidable.
The personal, social and economic impact of patient harm leads to losses of trillions of US dollars worldwide. The World Health Organization is focusing global attention on the issue of patient safety and has launched a campaign in solidarity with patients on the very first World Patient Safety Day on 17 September, 2019.
