The Police have launched an investigation into an alleged attack on the staff of the Suhum Government Hospital by family members of a deceased person.
The incident which reportedly took place at the hospital’s emergency ward on Wednesday, June 26, saw some health professionals physically assaulted with sliding windows.
According to sources, the deceased who has been identified as a 29-year-old miner was involved in an accident on Wednesday around the Top Oil fuel station in Suhum in the Eastern region while he was returning from Accra to Anyinam.
He was later rushed to the Suhum Hospital for treatment but later passed on while on admission.
The family of the deceased subsequently accused the staff of the hospital of negligence and failing to refer him to the Eastern Regional Hospital for further treatment.
They informed some friends of the deceased who later stormed the facility to physically assault the nurses on duty.
It took the timely intervention from police personnel from the district command to prevent the situation from escalating and also restore calm.
“I was at the barbering salon when I had a call that our friend had gotten an accident so I went with the barber. When we got there, they were about to send him to the X-ray department. He could even talk and was very happy when he saw me. We were even communicating while taking the scan.
“So after the X-ray, the nurse in charge called us that the situation was serious and all his thighs were broken. He referred us to someone in Kumasi who could help him.”
“They sent him to emergency and asked me to get a card for him before they could give him medication. When I went for the card, there was a network issue so I had to wait. They later gave him the medication while I waited to get the card.
“The person I went with called me that they had put oxygen on him because he could barely breathe. They told me they would refer him so they called the ambulance. His father and brother came and I went to the police station with his brother. We were at the police station when we had a call that the guy had passed on,” a family member explained to the media.
The incident Channel One News understands has left staff of the hospital traumatized. A security personnel at the hospital who witnessed the incident told the media that the deceased friends and family attacked staff indiscriminately.
“When I came on duty, they said he was injured so I went to even check up on him and he was already dead. So they called the mortuary man while his people were here mourning. Immediately I saw a pick-up car and two gentlemen got down.
“One started addressing the journalist and one also entered the hospital. The family entered the hospital and started attacking the nurses while destroying items. It took the intervention of the reinforcement team to address the situation.”