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Following the strike action by doctors in the public sector, Out-Patient Department (OPD) attendance has doubled, forcing the Police Hospital in Accra to institute measures to minimise pressure.

Consequently, the hospital has erected tents, and each tent contains 10 admission beds.

The maternity ward of the hospital has also been extended to the corridors to accommodate more patients.

Other measures instituted include doctors who were on leave recalled to increase the number of OPD doctors from three to six, to further minimise pressure.

According to the acting Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Police Hospital, Corporal Faustina Nunukpeku, the measures have been put in place because the number of patients who visit the facility has doubled.

She said the hospital before the strike action attended to an average of 280 patients per day, but now the number has increased to about 500.

Management, she said, has also procured more drugs in order to cater for the large number of patients the hospital is currently attending to as a result of the pending strike.

She noted that the aim of the Police Hospital is to save and protect lives, so there was no way the hospital was going to send patients away.

“We would keep on accommodating them as they come. Measures will continue to be put in place as the number increases,” she stated.

In a related development, Public Relations Officer of the 37 Military Hospital, Mrs Christine Adjo Atepor mentioned that although the number of patients coming to the hospital has increased, it is not that alarming.

However, she said doctors of the facility have extended their working time in order to also minimise the pressure created by the increase in the number of patients.

She said some doctors on leave have also been asked to resume work to support their colleagues.

The Police and 37 Military hospitals are attending to referral and emergency cases from hospitals all over the capital.

Reports from various parts of the country tell worrying stories of how hundreds of patients are turned away from public hospitals and some end up losing their lives before or upon reaching the next facility.

The patients have to leave the hospital with their folders containing lab test results and other medical reports from their previous visits.