The Public Relations Officer of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Mustapha Salifu, has refuted recent claims regarding the reported deaths of 20 renal patients due to a shortage of dialysis consumables.
In an interview with Happy Kaseɛbɔ, he stated, “Yesterday, we saw on Facebook claims that 20 people had died because of the shortage of renal dialysis consumables. We want to inform the public that we have no such records, and as far as we know, no 20 renal patients have died due to this shortage.”
He further clarified that the hospital has issued a statement to make it clear that they engaged Unilead, and there is no evidence to support these claims. He suggested that some people may have assumed the deaths occurred due to the brief disruption in the provision of consumables.
“If anyone has evidence to the contrary, they should come forward. But at the hospital, we have checked and found no such records. Recently, we did face challenges in acquiring consumables, which led to a temporary suspension of services at the unit,” he explained.
He also announced that the renal unit has now reopened, and emergency supplies have been secured.
“We started contacting patients today and have scheduled their dialysis services for tomorrow. The dialysis center is once again open for outpatients,” he confirmed.
Mustapha added that the hospital has implemented measures to prevent a recurrence of these issues.
“We have audited the processes for clearing these goods, and our logistics teams have taken note of the challenges. We are ensuring that such disruptions do not happen again,” he assured.