The taxi driver who conveyed the deceased female police officer and her three children who were severely burnt as a result of gas explosion has given a horrid account of how he watched the late family slowly die in pain.
Only identified as Kobby, the driver narrating his story to Chief Jerry Forson, host of Dwaso Nsem on Adom FM, attributed the death of the family to the neglect and seeming ‘unconcerned’ attitude of nurses in Ghana’s hospitals.
The victims were first taken to Aakawe Hospital located at MacCarthy Hill Junction, after a quick first aid treatment. They were subsequently referred to the 37 Military Hospital.
Kobby said that on their way to 37 Military Hospital, the late 45-year-old Kate Abban pleaded to be sent to Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.
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The journey to their painful death began at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital as the victims faced hours of neglect and pain.
‘Unconcerned-looking’ nurses either requested for the victims’ health insurance or deposits as preconditions for treatment. Though Kobby gave an assurance to the nurses that it would be taken care of accordingly, his plea fell on death ears.
“The nurses treated us as though they were no bodies. I have heard and watched such news [of no beds and lack of care] on radio and TV but this time, I saw it unfold before my very eyes,” Kobby said in a pained voice monitored by GhanaWeb.
He continued that, one ‘Good Samaritan’ known as Alhaji who lives in the same compound with the family volunteered to foot the medical expenses since nurses were still demanding for deposits-before-treatment.
“By the time the Alhaji got to the hospital, the suffering family were still sitting in chairs with no nurses or doctor to attend to them,’ he said.
The burnt victims as at the time they reported to the hospital “waited for 4 long painful hours till Alhaji came to pay for the medical bills.”
They died shortly after the nurses attended to them.
The gas explosion
Reports say, Kate, the deceased police woman was about to prepare her family’s meal for the day when the gas she was using for the process exploded to swallow her and her three children – 9, 11 and 22 years olds.
Kate Abban was a Police Inspector who had just been promoted to the rank of a Chief Inspector and was stationed at Techiman in the Bono Region.
