KUDOS
TO GHANA HEALTH SERVICE
I say to the glory of God that I am the type that
barely falls sick. Once in a while, I suffer minor uneasiness which rarely
become acute to the extent of having to see a doctor.
Nonetheless, no matter how necessary it would be to
see a doctor, I really detested going to the hospital, especially where I’m
inclined to resort to the nearby hospital. I am very cautious of self-medication.
Hence, I would rather go to a nearby pharmacy, explain my condition (without
tests), and be offered medication. That had been my routine to save myself from
the hurdle of going to pass through a chained queue at the hospital.
However, something intriguing occurred that coaxed
me to desist from the habit of always resorting to a nearby pharmacy for
medical assistance regardless the severity of the complication. I suffered
pains all over my body in conjunction with traces of diarrhea. As typical of
me, I visited the nearby pharmacy for assistance. I was given painkillers plus
ORS. In the evening, I felt my condition was getting deeper. So I went back to
the pharmacy. Upon my arrival, I collapsed. When I woke up, I was advised by
the doctor to go to the hospital.
Since that experience, I took the inspiration to
visit the hospital anytime I suffered unusual complications. As I said earlier,
I rarely visit the hospital. I developed a schema of going to suffer long
queues and delays.
However, my last visit at the LEKMA hospital, Teshie
proved me wrong. An established computerized system saved me the time of
waiting for my folder to be searched. Usually, the manual process alone could
consume not less than an hour.
The system was well centralized. At the OPD unit, I
only offered my card and the nurses were able to work on my folder
electronically.
Usually, we would wait for a certain number of
folders to be piled before they are transported to the doctor(s) on duty for
examination. That wasn’t the case this time round. It appeared similar
networked system has been put in place. I was ushered to take my seat at the
consulting area right after my basic details were logged onto the computer.
The most astonishing of it all was when the doctor
had to prescribe some medicines for me. As I sat waiting for her to scrawl on a
paper, she keyed in something onto the computer and directed me to the pharmacy
unit for collection. I marveled when she was able to identify that a particular
drug she had wanted to administer wasn’t available. She gave me a suitable
alternative that was in stock. On the regular, you would go to the pharmacy
only to be hit on the face that a prescribed drug isn’t available. Meanwhile,
you don’t get the opportunity again to see the doctor for alternatives. Hence,
having a database for all available drugs to inform the doctor is excellent.
The reduction of paperwork at the government
hospitals has really facilitated expediency. I congratulate the Ghana Health
Service for such an impressive upgrade.
In less than one hour, my business at the hospital
was done. It was a Sunday evening though.
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