It’s hard to blame”Dumsor” for baby’s death at Tema Hospital- GMA Boss

Dr. Frank Serebour, President of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA), is urging for an immediate inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the death of a child at the Tema Government Hospital.

He expresses doubts regarding attributing the baby’s demise solely to a power outage at the facility, emphasizing the need for a thorough investigation.

“I am surprised to hear that a patient has lost their life due to the oxygen supply being cut off during power outages. I find it hard to believe,” he disclosed in an interview with Millicent Safo-Adu on Bresosem at Abusua965FM.

Dr. Frank Serebour emphasized, “Oxygen is not powered by electricity unless they are suggesting the Hospital did not have oxygen cylinders.”

According to him, even in situations where the main oxygen supply system faces challenges, hospitals typically have backup cylinders to rely on during power outages.

Dr. Serebour cited his own experience at the Bekwai Government Hospital, where cylinders are procured for emergencies despite the use of oxygen concentrators for most patients.

These cylinders are crucial for supporting urgent cases and facilitating patient transfers requiring oxygen, he explained.

Contrary to misconceptions, he clarified that monitors displaying zero readings cannot directly cause harm to a patient. “Monitors going off and showing zero readings cannot kill a patient.”

Dr. Serebour explained that if a patient were on a ventilator and the power went off for a prolonged time as 2 hours, that patient could lose their life even with immediate action from medics.

However, in this case, the patient was not on a ventilator, he noted.

“The hospital’s system must be thoroughly checked. I believe the cause of the baby’s death should be investigated, and it may not necessarily be related to the power outage,” he argued.