Sunday, January 15, 2023.
‘Ghost’ at Nkitinkiti Government Hospital mortuary.
By Dr. Kofi Effah
6am Nkitinkiti Government Hospital Mortuary
Pandemonium
Mortuary Manager: Hey, Azuntaba, Babawode, where are you running to?
Babawode: I won’t work here again.
Azuntaba: Sir, run for your life. One of the dead bodies has come back to life…
Mortuary Manager goes to peep and runs out…
After about 5 minutes of running without knowing where he was running to, he calms down a bit, then meets Dr. T who is on his usual morning jogging.
Mortuary Manager: Dr. T, please come to the mortuary and help us. One of the dead bodies woke up!
Dr. T: Hey. Me? Have you called any of the doctors?
Mortuary Manager: I just called 5 of the doctors. All of them are afraid to come. Finally I got Kwaku Nkrabea. He is on his way.
Dr. T: Can we get some policemen to help. The police station isn’t far…
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6:45am
Mortuary Manager, Dr. T and a policeman arrive at the mortuary. Kwaku Nkrabea in in the ambulance with ‘resurrected man’ going to the Hospital Emergency Room…
Policeman: What happened?
Azuntaba (sweating): The dead man came back to life…
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7:20am Emergency Room
Medical Director and other medical doctors hear about the incident on the fm station and rush in.
Dr. Dr. Anibie: Kwaku Nkrabea, what is happening in this hospital? You are doing your controversial things again?
Kwaku Nkrabea: Sir, please calm down. I will explain.
Dr. Dr. Anibie: Okay. Go on.
Kwaku Nkrabea: First, let me say that the man is stable responding to treatment.
Dr. R: Which man?
Kwaku Nkrabea: A man and woman brought him at dawn. They said said he collapsed at church at dawn. They managed to get a taxi to bring him. They were not allowed to bring the body to the Emergency Room. One of the nurses went out, into the taxi, saw the man not moving and said he was dead. The nurse came to inform Dr. Q who was on call. Dr. Q instructed that the body should be sent to the mortuary. He didn’t examine the body.
The Mortuary Manager called me. When I went there, he was hardly breathing.
Dr. R: How many times have we said that for everybody who dies, a medical doctor must examine the body, make sure there is no cardiorespiratory activity, pupils are fixed and dilated… before declaring the person dead?
Dr. S: The hospital even developed a form to be filled before the body will be accepted at the mortuary. But the mortuary attendants take money from people and keep the body in the mortuary without asking for any form.
Dr. R: Some people are ‘brought in dead’ from home and the hospital attendants take money and keep them in the fridge without making any medical doctor certify death. I wonder how many of such people were not really dead.
Kwaku Nkrabea: I understand the man is Dr. Q’s uncle who paid for his education from primary school…
Dr. Dr. Anibie: Ei!
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To be continued.
Note:
The characters in this piece are fictitious; any resemblance to real people or facts within your Corporate Institution is pure coincidence only.