Manhyia Hospital Grants Nurse, House Officer “Time Off” After A/R NSS Boss Controversy
The Manhyia District Hospital has granted the nurse and house officer at the centre of an altercation started by the Ashanti Regional Director of the National service Scheme some time off.
This was disclosed by the Deputy Director of Nursing Services at the hospital, Madam Gladys Abban.
In an interview with the head of the News Department of Opemsuo radio, Mr Kyeremateng Addo, Madam Abban clarified that the altercation was not sparked by the house officer’s wrong prescription for a patient as peddled by the media.
“It is reported that the house officer prescribed the wrong medication; that is not true. Nurses and doctors have codes they use for our medicine prescription system in this hospital. When I log into the system, for instance, no one will be able to log in to change a prescription I make. So the house officer prescribed some medicines for a patient in the morning but we didn’t have some of the drugs so there was the need to take those prescriptions out of the patient’s digital form else she would pay for it.
“The nurse on that note called the house officer to come back to the hospital to effect the changes- the house officer wasn’t on duty at the time. It seems the house officer got offended by how the nurse sent out the message to her.”
She disclosed that both staffs of the hospital have been traumatised by the incident and have therefore been granted time off.
“We met the two on Monday and heard from both of them…Both the nurse and the house officer have been cautioned…With the verbal assault, she (the nurse) endured, she has been traumatised. Management of the hospital has therefore given her three days of leave. The house officer is also traumatised so we have to give her some time to relax.”
An audio of an altercation between the Ashanti Regional Director of the National Service Scheme (NSS), Alex Opoku-Mensah and a nurse at the Manhyia District Hospital which transpired on Sunday, November 27 went viral at the beginning of this week.
Mr Opoku-Mensah stormed the Manhyia District Hospital with her daughter- who is a house officer at the hospital- to rebuke the nurse in question for “ordering” the house officer back to the hospital to put in order a medicine prescription system the hospital uses.
In the audio, Mr Opoku-Mensah was heard verbally abusing the nurse.
“It’s Manhyia yours. Who born dog?”, he said.
The nurse retorted, “Manhyia isn’t mine but we are all dealing with patients. I have every right to call her back when her services go wrong to prompt her.”
Mr Opoku Mensah responded, “Is she accountable to you? Is she accountable to you?… Are you mad? Is Manhyia yours … Stupid idiot…You don’t respect…You go out there and read General Arts {and become nurses}. You are a disappointment if you read Science… I can cause you to lose your job. Do you know who I am? I am the National Service Director. Some of you are under me… I always say that General Arts students shouldn’t be nurses.”
Following this, Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA) said it deemed the insults as directed not just at the nurse at the hospital but towards all nurses in the country and, therefore, called for his dismissal.
“The Public Services Commission and the government for that matter should sack the said Regional Director immediately because he is not fit for the Director position he holds in the Public Service ”, a statement from the GRNMA said threatening to strike.
Describing the encounter between the nurse and the director as “unfortunate”, the Management of the National Service Scheme (NSS) said it has invited Mr Opoku-Mensah for investigations.
Mr Opoku-Mensah has since apologised for his action stating, “this has never been my style”.
He added that he took that action “for a genuine reason to mediate a persistent issue between my daughter(Doctor) and a colleague nurse who I as well consider my daughter.”
“I do apologize for any mishap and assure all, there shall not be a repetition of such.”
Source: opemsuo.com/Hajara Fuseini
