The Angels in Korle-bu
To the average patient, the systems and processes at Ghana’s Premier Teaching Hospital, Korle-bu in Accra do not lend themselves to flexibility because of the serious business that takes place there.
But to Madam Adwoa Asantewa, 45, (not real name), there are “angels” at Korle-bu to provide divine intervention to distraught and helpless patients who might have given up hope.
Recounting her encounter with some of those “angels”, first in 1987 and just recently in 2015, Madam Asantewa told the Ghana News Agency that there are good people in Ghana and in Korle-bu too.
Madam Asantewa, who has a heart related problem, has been going to and from the Cardiothoracic Centre, Korle-bu for quite some time now.
In May she woke up at about 0300 hours travelled from the Volta Region to Korle-bu to keep an appointment with her doctor.
She got to the Cardio Centre at 0800 hours only to find out that she was late as folders of patients expected to see their doctors that day had been sorted out already.
Madam Asantewa’s plea for consideration, given the fact that she came all the way from Ho, and because her doctor was emphatic in advising her to keep her appointment, given the seriousness of her condition.
After waiting and pleading for some time without success, she gave up and decided to try next time though with much apprehension for her condition.
Before she could get to the main gate of the Hospital however, a gentleman who recognised her as a patient asked why she was leaving as the folders of the late-comers were being sorted out.
The gentleman collected her red OPD card and raced to the Cardio Centre and before she got there after much effort, he had placed her folder where it should be.
Way back in 1987 Madam Asantewa had a similar encounter with two “angels” at Korle-bu, in that encounter she was referred from the Suhum Government Hospital where she had been on admission for some time.
She was discharged at about 1600 hours from that hospital in critical condition on request and got to Korle-bu by 1900 hours.
The night doctor directed that she be detained, but she was told by the nurse on duty that there was no bed available.
Her husband and her sister who accompanied her to the hospital were in a dilemma as to where to spend the night given the critical condition she was in.
As the three were brooding over their situation two gentlemen introduced themselves as nurses, and offered to accommodate them after listening to their story.
At first Madam Asantewa and her sister were afraid to follow the gentlemen despite assurances.
To their relief they were led to the Nurses quarters where the male nurses introduced her to a female nurse as a patient in “distress” and in need of accommodation.
The female nurse without hesitation offered to accommodate her and her sister while her husband spent the night with one of the male benefactors who spared nothing in making them feel at home.
The following day the “angels” helped them through the processes at the hospital and saw them off with an emotion filled good-bye.
She returned to the hospital after her condition had improved but could not trace the three “angels” as some nurses contacted were not familiar with their names.
Source: GNA