Patient involved in Car Accident Allegedly left to Die at the EFSTH (RVTH), While Nurse wait for Police Report

Youthful lady Mama Sally allegedly struck by a vehicle and died at the hospital

A patient was allegedly left to die at the country’s main training hospital while a nurse wait to get a police report before administrating emergency medical treatment. The patient was reported to have been struct by a vehicle which was speeding due to alleged buzzed driving. The report was sent to Gainako’s MamaLinguere who chunk together a report to draw attention to the tragic incident.. Below are detail reports of what allegedly happened to the patient…

It was another case of buzzed driving by irresponsible youthfull people, another sad lost of life and worst a heath care system that proceeds to fail an entire nation and nothing is done about it. Our heath care in Gambia is one of the worst in Africa, yet the Minister responsible having been part of the system has not made any radical switches urgently needed to address the situation. How does a caregiver witness a victim die without intervention because he or she is waiting for the police or a police report?

Below is a traumatic story as reported by one Malima Ceesay. We truly need to do more Gambia, this is unacceptable.

Last night, a youthfull lady got knocked unconscious crossing the road at the Amsterdam junction in my neighborhood. She got rushed to the hospital and guess what happened when they got there. There was only one nurse in the A & E (Accident and Emergency) Unit. Not a single qualified medical doctor was present. This nurse who seemed to hate her job spent about five minutes wearing her gloves alone. To add salt to injury, her supervisor abruptly appeared from nowhere and says the patient/victim wouldn’t be ‘touched’ in the absence of a police officer. Could you imagine! Meantime, the patient was laying unconscious on a stretcher with violated gams and excessive bleeding in the head. Before the police could get to the hospital, the damsel was pronounced dead. Just like that.

She could’ve been saved if the necessary measures were taken when she originally got to the ‘A&E’ Unit. Besides, What is the essence of having an A&E Unit when accidents can’t be treated as emergencies? What is wrong with these nurses?! I still can’t wrap my head around how a human being could observe a fellow human die and do absolutely nothing about it. Especially after you swore an oath to do exactly the opposite. This incident has rid me of the little confidence I had in our healthcare delivery system. I am sure there are numerous unreported similar scripts. The million dollar question is, how much longer are we going to be living under such a climate of fear and uncertainty when our loved ones get down? The average Gambian cannot afford private medical care so this issue has to be looked into.

As expected, the driver at Amsterdam, a careless youthfull man whose parents emerge to have failed woefully in his up-bringing, was under the influence of alcohol or some contraband. He attempted to run but lost control of the vehicle so he was compelled to flee the scene on foot. A few hours later, out of sheer funk I’m guessing, he transferred himself over to the police. The police, instead of doing their job (which I can’t tell them), determined to civilly treat the matter. That maybe because the driver’s father is a police commissioner. Do these people even have a conscience? Smh. The youthfull lady is gone and there’s nothing one can do about it. It’s a phat loss to her family which makes them the only losers in this equation. However, justice needs to be served. This will at least serve as some form of consolation to them and a warning to the rest of the youthful light-heads playing with cars on the highways. With this attitude and the maslaha-syndrome, The Gambia has a long way to go. A very long way. I still can’t believe that the case has been dropped even before the victim is laid to rest. That would’ve been totally acceptable if the driver was sober at the time of the hit-and-run. But under these circumstances, he must face the anger of the law.

I would now like to present my genuine condolences to Kebs Bojang and his entire family. May the soul of the departed rest in flawless peace. This is a excellent loss to the entire neighborhood. Mama Sally was an embodiment of life itself. Cheerful, meek and always smiling. May Allah welcome her in the highest of Jannah in this holy month. Ameen.

Now you understand why this is individual to me. My best friend’s eighteen year-old sister was the victim. This issue with car accidents and police reports has to be looked into. We can’t keep losing our lives in the corridors of the A&E units unattended to. It’s totally unacceptable. Some of these medical practitioners need to do their jobs or find something else to do. Enough is enough!

Editor’s note: Gainako is further investigating this tragic story and hope to draw the attention of the authorities to look into such tragic cases. The importance of reporting such stories is to ensure that the authorities are sending clear messages that all lives matter and bureaucratic processes should not endanger the lives of our citizens. Act must also be taken if relatives of those in position of influence are treated with exception especially if they are involved in alleged criminal activities. We hope that the police will climb on a thorough investigation into what happened at the accident, the driver’s behaviors and most importantly the alleged report that the nurse at the hospital was waited for police report before administrating treatment safe the live of a citizen…

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