Shortage of beds has become prevalent at the Daboya and Mankarigu Health Centers in the North Gonja district of the Savannah region.
Patients lucky to have a bed assigned to them while on admission are those in critical conditions.
Healthcare givers have been compelled by the situation to resort to hourly discharge of in-patients due to inadequate beds.
Whereas some of the admitted patients wait for their turn on benches, others have no option but to receive treatment in plastic chairs.
The Daboya and Mankargu health centers all serve as referral centers within the North Gonja District.
Kwame Ebenezer, a nurse at the Daboya Health Centre lamented about the challenges patients and staff face.
“One of our main challenges is the bedding situation because you have cases you have to detain and take care of and the question is where does the patient sleep? We have to resort to a shift system,” he said.
Issahaku Ramatu, a patient was compelled to take her infusion in a plastic chair because she could not get a bed.
“I was told the beds were full and needed to wait for some time for them to discharge someone and I couldn’t wait so I opted to sit in this plastic chair. How can you be well in this situation?” she bemoaned.
Emmanuel Osei who has worked at the health facility for the past three years said the bed situation has become detrimental to healthcare delivery.
“Some patients at the Mankarigu Health Center receive treatment under trees. With an average daily admission of more than 15 patients for each of the facilities, the availability of beds for use by patients still remains a challenge. Our MP is a deputy Minister of Health and we don’t know his seriousness level on this issue,” a frustrated patient said.
But the Deputy Minister of Health and Member of Parliament for the area, Alhaji Asei Seini, described the situation as unfortunate but assured that beds would be deployed to the facility in a week’s time.
“I distributed some beds a few days ago and still have more at the central medical store in Accra but I think the challenge is the space to keep them. I will dispatch the other beds within a week to address the entire bedding situation. We are facing this challenge be sitting here is no hospital but with the springing up of the agenda 111 Hospital, we shall soon overcome these challenges,” he said.
Hospital beds play an important role in healthcare by assisting patients to obtain optimal comfort.
However, its absence has a detrimental impact on the health of patients.
Sustainable Development Goal three targets achieving universal health coverage, including access to quality essential healthcare services and safe, effective, quality, and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all by 2030.
But issues like no-bed syndrome derail the country’s health gains and further widen the gap towards achieving quality health goals.
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