GHANAIAN HOSPITALS IN CRISIS

For both children and adults with serious conditions, the right medical equipment and care play a crucial role in giving them the best chance of recovery and healing. Lack of money and resources means that healthcare professionals in Ghana are often unable to give patients the required treatment – even if they are aware of what exactly should be done. Lack of working surgical devices and apparatus means that patients often need to be transferred miles for basic surgeries, and those who are too ill to be moved have no choice but to do without it. Medication for pains and anesthetics are very expensive and hard to access in Ghana, hence greater proportion of patients do not receive the right medication to improve their condition.

Maternity wards and children’s wards are often the hardest hit by lack of funding and equipment. With the lack of a good number of beds and rooms, laboring women are forced to give birth in wards with close to or more than 10 women. In some cases, they end up giving birth on the floor. Without enough sterile needles and proper surgical equipment, the risk of maternal and neonatal mortality increases in number.