Medical Director Suspended As GHS Begins Investigations Into Abandoned Woman Incident

The Medical Director of the Trauma and Specialist Hospital in Winneba, Central Region, Dr. George Prah, has been temporarily relieved of his duties. This decision comes amid an ongoing investigation into the alleged abandonment of a patient in a bush, an incident which led to the patient’s death.

Dr. Prah is to step aside until the Ghana Health Service (GHS) completes its investigation into the matter. The committee constituted by the GHS has been given a maximum of 30 days by the Minister of Health, Dr. Bernard Okoe Boye, to finalize and submit their report on the incident.

The incident, which came to light on Thursday, June 13, 2024, involved a patient who had been admitted to the Trauma and Specialist Hospital at Winneba. Allegedly, the patient was discharged and then abandoned in a bush. Reports suggest that an ambulance from the hospital transported and left the elderly woman, who was still recovering from leg injuries sustained in an accident, by the roadside near a bush.

Photos and videos circulated on the internet showed the woman lying on the roadside with plaster casts on both legs and a wheelchair beside her. A passerby reportedly offered a cloth to keep her warm when she showed signs of feeling cold. Tragically, the woman is reported to have died after several days of lying by the roadside.