The President of the Ghana Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA), Perpetual Ofori-Ampofo, has revealed that the house officer at the center of controversy between the Ashanti Regional NSS Director and a senior nurse at the Manhyia District Hospital did not issue a wrong medication.
Speaking with Metro TV, Mrs. Ofori-Ampofo stated the house officer prescribed medication that was not available at the hospital’s pharmacy at the time, and for the hospital to provide it to the patient, it had to resort to an e-health system, which the patient will be charged for. According to her, the nurse in the surgical ward was only getting the house officer to amend the prescription in order for the patient not to incur those costs.
“From the report that we have, it wasn’t about a medication error.” The point was that some medication has been prescribed as an order; the pharmacy could not provide two of these medications, and per the e-health system that has been run, the patient was going to be billed for it. Therefore, the next line of action was for the house officer to either change those medications to something else that the pharmacy had or delete them from the system so that the patient was not billed for them, and that is exactly what the nurse was trying to do.
Mrs. Ofori-Amanfo, however, argued that the house officer could have used the hospital’s internal procedures to resolve any grievances instead of bringing his father into the issue.
“Looking at what transpired at the Manhyia District Hospital, when you look at the medical team and the varied professionals that are in there, of course, when you look at the work that we do, some of these things are bound to happen, but there’s a way of resolving it.” “If not between the two professionals, the nurse manager, for example, or the medical superintendent could have come in to help resolve this matter,” she added.
The GRNWMA President threatened that if the NSS Director, Alex Opoku Mensah, is not relieved of his duty within 72 hours, nurses and midwives in the Ashanti Region, including the Manhyia District Hospital, will embark on a strike action.
Mr. Opoku Mensah has since apologized for his conduct.
“This has never been my style, but for a genuine reason to mediate a long-standing dispute between my daughter (a doctor) and a colleague nurse, whom I also consider my daughter, I did it.” I apologize for any mishaps and assure everyone that they will not happen again. “I look forward to maintaining a cordial relationship with any affected person,” he said in a statement.
