On June 9, 2023, Mr Agyekum, a resident of the Accra suburb of Santa Maria, accompanied his pregnant wife to a clinic for what he thought would be a regular laboratory test on his wife who was expected to deliver within days.
Things however took a dramatic turn when the wife went into labour while doctors at the said clinic were attending to her. The doctors, per Mr Agyekum’s narration on Angel FM, put in a great shift to have her deliver but due to the complications she encountered, they had no option but to refer her to the nation’s premier health facility, the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.
“On the 9th of June, my pregnant wife and I went to Makola to buy stuff and from there we went to a clinic for a lab test recommended by a doctor. After the lab test, the doctor asked us to buy some drugs. While going to buy the medicine, my wife called and the doctor said she was in labour so I should bring the stuff needed for delivery.
“By the time I returned, the doctor had sent her to the ward so I sat somewhere to pray for her. The doctors did their best but the situation was beyond their control so they referred her to Korle Bu and made it clear that she will undergo Caesarean surgery,” he said.
The process at Korle Bu, Mr Agyekum says, seemed pretty smooth as doctors reiterated the earlier advice from their colleagues at the clinic that she had to undergo surgery.
Mr Agyekum however began to get apprehensive at 4 a.m. the following day as he was still not allowed to see his wife despite confirmation from the doctors that the surgery was successful and that it was male twins.
He took the news with excitement but was still concerned by their failure to allow him access to the wife. He pressed again at 7 am and met same resistance, this time with the excuse that the ward was being cleaned up.
“When we got to Korle they did some blood tests and the doctor told me that she will undergo CS. It was 1:00 am at the time. I tried going to where she was but they said I wasn’t allowed to go there. Around 4:00 am I tried again but this time they told me, they were done with the process. A nurse came to speak to me and allayed my concerns. A male nurse came to tell me that they were male twins. I was told that I could go at 7 but when I tried, they told me that they were cleaning the place.”
Having run out of patience, Mr Agyekum stormed the ward and from a distance he spotted the motionless body of his wife with oxygen fixed on her.
That scene left him sad and outraged and no amount of persuasion could calm him down. His first point of call was to some men of God he knew as well as his brother and mother-in-law who were en route the hospital.
“Around 7:20 am, I went and they told me she was at the recovery ward so I went there and I was taken aback immediately I saw her. The nurses and doctor tried calming me and said they had something to tell me but I protested that my wife wasn’t dead at the time I was bringing her to the hospital.
“I had already called two pastors to inform them about the situation. My brother and mother-in-law were on their way to the hospital so I called and asked them to hurry up. One of the pastors told me my wife had passed and I told him I’m aware but I don’t want to believe it.”
He went further to add “My brother-in-law and I met three doctors who informed us that in the course of the operation, my wife’s heart failed so she went off. They asked me to be patient and collaborate with them. From where I stood, I could see the motionless body of my wife with the oxygen fixed on her. After three weeks, her eyes opened.”
Almost three months on, the wife of Mr Agyekum is still on admission at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital with parts of her body decaying.
“It’s been three months and her back has rotten to the bone level. She is still at the hospital motionless,” he said.
Next line of action
Angel Broadcasting Network, according to the host of their morning show, Okatakyie Afrifa, has decided to sue the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital to demand accountability over suspected negligence in the handling Mr Agyekum’s wife.
