Nurses at the Upper West Regional Hospital in Wa have for the past two days refused to take fresh admissions following the shortage of some consumables.
When Ghana News Agency (GNA) visited the hospital at about 1100 hours, the Out Patient Department (OPD) and the medical laboratory were virtually empty contrary to the usual daily long queues.
Some of the nurses who spoke to the GNA on condition of anonymity disclosed that consumables such as bandage, liquid soap, savlon lotion, guardian soap, disposable blocks, parazon, washing powder, vim, disposable syringes, plaster, mutilated spirit, and face mask were in short supply at the Hospital.
They therefore complained that the situation exposed them and the patients to the risk of infections if they continue to work without this logistics.
“Even when patients come and you ask them to go to a pharmacy and buy such simple things, they turn to think that we are exploiting them,” they said.
The nurses are therefore giving the hospital authorities 72 hours to make such consumables available before they can accept any fresh admissions.
Dr Winfred Ofosu, the Acting Regional Director of Health Services when contacted after a crunch meeting with the nurses at the Hospital said it was true that the medical facility was in short supply of some consumables.
He said management had however put in place measures to ensure sustainable supply of consumables at the hospital.
Dr Ofosu however attributed the situation to the indebtedness of the National Health Insurance Scheme to the facility, but hinted that management would continue to prioritise cash revenues to ensure that they remedied the situation.
He gave the assurance that by next Monday the remaining consumables would be supplied to ensure full operations.
GNA
