The Medical and Dental Council has asked the family of a 10-year-old boy who died at the Tema General Hospital to a file a formal complaint to initiate a probe into the possible case of medical negligence.    

The 10-year-old boy died after he took a 75 milligram of Naklofen drug administered to him at the Tema General Hospital, mother of the deceased claimed.

Mrs. Mabel Senahey said the doctor had prescribed 50mg of the drug for her son, but the pharmacist changed it.

She told Joy News’ Maxwell Agbagba Wednesday when she notified the doctor about the discrepancy, she directed her to administer that dosage.

Registrar of the General and Medical Council, a statutory body established by law to uphold the highest standards in the practice of medicine and dentistry, Dr. Eli Atikpui, says it will commence an in-depth investigation into the incident shortly after a complaint has been filed by the family.

“The relations can decide to make a report to the Dental and Medical Council and we can take it from there. Or they would wait for the hospital to complete and submit a report to the Medical and Dental Council for the Council to do its own in-depth professional investigation,” Dr. Atikpui told Joy News.

He said the public interest generated by the unfortunate incident could force the Council to take the initiative and request the Tema General Hospital to start an investigation.

Read: Boy, 10, dies over alleged medical negligence at Tema General Hospital

Meanwhile, the Tema General Hospital is set to begin investigations into the circumstances under which a ten-year-old boy died.

Director of the Hospital Dr. Opoku Adusei refrained from commenting extensively on the matter, insisting he did not want to pre-empt the outcome of the investigations.

He, however, wondered why the incident was first reported to the media instead of the hospital’s management.

Dr Opoku Adusei, who was unhappy with what he referred to as “stories” from the deceased family, said he would rather the investigation was concluded to ascertain the cause of death of the ten-year-old boy.

Details

The deceased visited the hospital with his mum after he got injured playing football.

Mother of the deceased

According to his mother, Mabel Senahey, the doctor prescribed 50mg of the drug to be given to her son, but the pharmacist changed it to 75mg.

She told Joy News’ Maxwell Agbagba Wednesday when she notified the doctor about the discrepancy, the doctor directed her to go ahead and administer the drug.

Shortly after her son took the medicine, he started complaining of heart burns and stomach pains which forced the mother to bring the boy back to the hospital.

According to her, her repeated attempts to get the nurses on duty to call in any of the doctors to attend to her son proved futile.

The boy squirmed and yelled in pain but the nurses were not to be bothered, Mabel Senahey alleged.

She said the last request of her son was for her to check the time for him and that he was going.

“Mummy I said take your phone and look at the time for me. I want to go but I don’t know where I am going,” she recalled.

Her son passed away before the doctor came to attend to him but it was too late. The family is now accusing the hospital of criminal negligence and wants justice.

According to Mabel Senahey, her son had blood oozing from his nostrils and ears after he had been pronounced dead.

Dr Opoku Adusei said an autopsy will be conducted to find out the cause of death.

Meanwhile a Pharmacist Dr Yaw Ofori Adjei is urging caution in the allegations of negligence.

He told Joy News it was not completely out of place for a boy that age to be given a 75-milligram Naklofen drug if he had the appropriate weight.

For a fair and unbiased conclusion, he would rather an investigation is conducted to ascertain the true cause of death.