Baby’s hand rots after medical negligence but hospital blames ‘juju’

The right hand of a one-year-old baby is rotting due to alleged medical negligence by a clinician at St. Dominic Hospital in Akwatia in the Denkyembuor District in Eastern Region.

The baby boy, a twin was admitted to the facility on November 31, 2021, for treatment of a childhood hernia.

However, according to the nursing mother, a poorly inserted cannula by a clinician at the hospital led to swelling of the hand of the baby.

The condition worsened within a few days at the hospital but urgent attention was not paid to the baby until the condition worsened.

The baby was, however, discharged on December 31, 2021, without the intended surgery performed nor treatment of the cannula infection which led to an abscess of the hand.

Dagadu Lydia, mother of the twins said she went back to the hospital to complain about the worsening condition of the baby but management refused to hear her.

“They are twins. The elder twin is the one they have damaged the hand. I went to the hospital with the baby on November 31, 2021, and on December 4, 2021, a Doctor by the name Dr. Abu was trying to set the line for the cannula but was struggling to get the vein so he asked for help from another Doctor. The next day my baby’s hand was swollen.

When I started complaining they came to take away the cannula. They further conducted a scan and told me the hand of the boy has damaged, that they need to cut off the damaged hand which I opposed. I insisted they explain to me what caused it but they refused”.

Last week, Lydia mobilized her family members about nine of them, accompanied by a journalist stormed the hospital to meet Management of the facility but the Administrator of St. Dominic Hospital, A Catholic Priest identified as Rev.Fr Kenneth Abban yelled at the Journalist to go out.
The Journalist, however, recused himself after 30 minutes standoff.


The meeting however ended inconclusively as management failed to admit medical negligence on their part.

When contacted, Rev.Fr. Kenneth Abban, the administrator in Charge of St. Dominic Hospital said the injury of the baby was caused by a Juju man they sent the baby to.

“They sent the baby to a Juju man and that is the cause. They came to even apologise to us ask her Uncle, ” Rev.Fr.Abban said.

However, in swift rebuttal, the nursing mother Lydia Dagadu described Rev. Fr Abban as a liar who is being disingenuous.

According to her, the condition of the boy occurred at the hospital and after a month of no treatment at the facility, invited a herbalist to assess the condition while at home after discharge.

She however said the herbalist refused to attend to the baby because he said it was beyond his capacity.

Lydia is threatening to sell her clothes to seek justice for her baby.

“I can’t explain to my baby when he grows up why his hand was cut off. I can’t. So I will go all out to seek justice for him. I will send him to a different facility to investigate the cause of the problem.” Read Full Story