It has been concluded that the employees at the Trauma and Specialist Hospital at Winneba, who were involved in abandoning a patient in a bush in June 2024, which led to the death of the patient, "did not act appropriately." 

The Health Minister has, therefore, directed that the affected staff should be reported to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the police and the Attorney General.

This follows the conclusion of investigations by the Ghana Health Service (GHS) into the incident, which concluded that the employees identified as having contributed to the planning, and evacuation of the patient from the hospital to Gomoa Ojobi in the Central Region, where she was was abandoned until her death, "did not act appropriately."

The said staff are six in number and they were involved in the discharge of the patient.

They are the Deputy Director of Nursing in charge of the hospital who spearheaded the arrangements to get the patient out of the hospital without adherence to proper discharge protocol, Eric Kwaku Arhinful the physician assistant who certified manually that the patient was mentally stable and proceeded with discharge without recourse to protocol and Michael Peprah the transport officer who arranged for hospital ambulance, a stand-in driver and fuel for the patient to be taken away.

The others are Evans Odae Acheampong, the Principal Hospital Orderly, who drove the ambulance conveying the patient from the Trauma Hospital to Ojobi upon the instructions of the transport officer, Dr George Prah, the Medical Director who authorised the release of the ambulance even though the committee did not find any evidence to confirm that he had full knowledge of who was to be taken out of the hospital and where he/she was to be taken to and Kwame Asante Baidoo the social worker who led the team to the point where the patient was abandoned.   

The GHS investigative committee started work on June 20, 2024 and ended on July 25, 2024.

The committee established that the deceased was admitted at the Winneba Hospital on May 29, 2024.

She was discharged on June 13, 2024.

The committee also established that she was not a native of Gomoa Ojobi or was living in the area.

The first time the community members saw her was the day they found her lying in a gutter with injuries and she was first taken to the Ojobi Health Centre with the help of the Assembly Member for the area.

The Gomoa East District Social Welfare officer who was not at the scene per the findings of the committee communicated with the colleague at the Trauma hospital in Winneba and they then arranged for the ambulance to transport the injured person to the Trauma hospital in Winneba with the Gomoa East District Social Welfare Officer providing GH¢300 from her personal resources to aid the transportation, which was paid to the National Ambulance Service staff, even though no receipt was issued for that payment.

Read full report of the committee attached below for how patient was handled at the hospital

In a press statement dated October 2, 2024, the Ministry of Health announced that the committee that investigated the June 2024 incident in their report recommended that the said staff who handled the discharge of the patient from the Winneba Hospital be sanctioned by the Ghana Health Service (GHS) through Internal Disciplinary Procedures. 

"However, the Ministry is of the view that in the light of the gravity of the issue captured in the report, involving the loss of life, further investigations should be carried out by the Honourable Attorney-General and Minister of Justice," it said.

Consequently, the Minister of Health has requested the assistance of the Attorney General to initiate an investigation into the case to determine the culpability or otherwise of the affected staff and take any further action deemed appropriate. 

"This matter has also been reported to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID)" of the police, the statement added.

 It said the Ministry of Health is committed to the recommendations made by the committee of the GHS.  

The persons involved in the discharge of the patient and their respective roles and who have been reported to the police are the Deputy Director of Nursing in charge of the hospital who spearheaded the arrangements to get the patient out of the was without adherence to proper discharge protocol, the physician assistant who certified manually that the patient was mentally stable and proceeded with discharge without recourse to protocol and the transport officer who arranged for hospital ambulance, a stand-in driver and fuel for the patient to be taken away.

The others are the Principal Hospital Orderly, who drove the ambulance conveying the patient from the Trauma Hospital to Ojobi upon the instructions of the transport officer, and the Medical Director who authorised the release of the ambulance even though the committee did not find any evidence to confirm that he had full knowledge of who was to be taken out of the hospital and where he/she was to be taken to and the social worker who led the team to the point where the patient was abandoned.   

Click this link for the full report of the committee 

What happened?

In June 2024, it came out that a patient who was on admission at the Trauma and Specialist Hospital at Winneba had been discharged and abandoned in a bush.

An ambulance from the hospital was used to transport and dump the old woman who was still recovering from leg injuries after an accident at the roadside near a bush.

Photos and videos shared on the internet showed the woman lying by the roadside with P.O.P. on both legs and a wheelchair lying by her side.

It was a passerby who offered a cloth to help keep the old woman warm when she exhibited signs of feeling cold.  

She died after some days of lying by the road side.

Before she died

The old woman, who was reportedly suffering from what was suspected to be a mental illness or dementia was reportedly involved in an accident and was taken to the Winneba Trauma and Specialist Hospital for medical attention.

She was taken to the hospital and she stayed there for sometime.

She never received a visitor or no family member showed up.

After some time on admission, the elderly woman after gaining consciousness was only able to give an indication that she was from Gomoa Ojobi in the Central Region.

Apart from that, she could not give hospital staff much information about herself to assist them trace her relatives.  

No family members showed up at the hospital to engage the management of the hospital.

When the hospital authorities became fed up with her, especially as some hospital staff claimed, she was constantly screaming at night, violent and disturbing patients and staff, they decided to go out to search for her relatives.

Since the little information they gathered was that she was from Gomoa Ojobi, they sent her away from the hospital in an ambulance.

Some residents said they spotted an ambulance from the hospital, and saw the staff removing and dumping the old woman by the road side at the outskirts of Gomoa Ojobi in a nearby bush and left a wheel chair for her.

After about a week of hanging and lying at the spot, she died.

Some residents said they were scared to go near her.

The investigative committee during their work found out that she was not really from Gomoa Ojobi and nobody knew her in the area.

As of the time the investigative committee was concluding its work, no family member had showed up even after her death.