Story: Mary Ankrah
THE Children’s Emergency Ward of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) which was closed down a few weeks ago following an outbreak of the bacterial infection known as Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) at the ward has been reopened.
During a visit to the Children’s Block yesterday, the Outpatient’s Department (OPD) was filled with parents and their children who were there for medical care, while the nurses were actively going about their duties of attending to patients.
Enquiries made from some parents indicated that some of the patients on admission had been there for about two or more days.
However, efforts to speak with the hospital authorities proved futile but they said an official statement on the reopening would be issued today.
The MRSA, like all staph bacteria, can be spread from one person to another through casual contact or contaminated objects. It is commonly spread from the hands of an infected person.
Experts say currently MRSA bacteria are almost always found to be resistant to multiple antibiotics and all isolated MRSA patients need to have their antibiotic weakness determined to choose the correct or appropriate antibiotic therapy.
The outbreak, which necessitated the temporary closure of the ward, was to prevent further infections.
The hospital authorities had to refer fresh patients to other hospitals and patients at the affected area were evacuated to other wards of the hospital to enable the authorities to fumigate and scrap the ward to get rid of the bacterial infection there.
Five cases were diagnosed among children on admission at the ward. Three of them died, while the remaining two are currently on admission.
No comments:
Post a Comment