The Greater Accra Chairman of the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA), Jefferson Asare, has questioned the credibility of the Ministry of Health’s investigation into the alleged assault of a nurse at the Ridge Hospital.
He is claiming the committee failed to engage the medical officer who first examined the victim.
The investigative committee, led by Dr Lawrence Ofori-Boadu, concluded in its final report that there was no medical evidence of dislocation or fracture in the case of Rejoice Tsotso Bortei, a rotation nurse allegedly assaulted at the Greater Accra Regional Hospital on 18 August.
According to the report, the nurse reported her injuries the following day, and medical records indicated no fracture of the wrist or dislocation of the shoulder.
However, speaking on Channel One TV on Wednesday, August 27, Mr Asare insisted the report was incomplete because it ignored critical medical evidence.
“I can say on record that the doctor who saw the lady was not even interviewed during the committee sittings. I know that for a fact, because I have the list of those interviewed as well as the stamped medical report. The doctor’s name is there, but he was never engaged,” he asserted.
He explained that the initial diagnosis was made not by the nurse herself or colleagues but by a senior medical officer at Ridge Hospital.
“The dislocation was not said by any nurse or any other person than the medical director of Ridge Hospital when we met him. It was a senior medical officer who saw the lady on the Monday morning,” Mr Asare said.
He added that the nurse was first diagnosed with ‘poly contusion’, a term describing multiple bruises involving pain, redness and swelling.
“When we say poly contusion, what do we mean? It simply means that there is swelling, there is redness, there is pain at the site of the hit,” he clarified.