DEFACING IMHOTEP; MEDICAL RECORDS AT KORLE-BU

N. B. Andrews

February 07, 2015

No serious physician can ever disregard the legacy of Imhotep. He was African, he predated Hippocrates, his medical writings were scientific and completely devoid of magical thinking.

Sir William Osler declared Imhotep as the real "Father of Medicine".

Osler also said, "medicine is the only worldwide profession following everywhere the same method, actuated by the same ambition and pursuing the same ends".

Then why is it that the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) has not kept the medical records/medical files of its patients for at least the last ten years?

Can you believe that even today, patients are given their records to take home and KBTH does not keep a copy? All patients of the KBTH and their relatives can readily verify this.

Medical records facilitate good care;
- allow a subsequent caregiver to understand the patient's  condition and the basis for the current investigations or treatments
- provide a method of communicating with other team members.

The keeping of medical records satisfies legal and ethical obligations; medical regulatory authority, hospital, and legislative requirements for clear and legible records.

In addition, records act as evidence: if the quality of care is later questioned, it shows events as they happened.

On account of the above, every serious, properly and legally run hospital in Ghana and beyond ensures that it keeps the records of its patients. Of course, every patient is entitled to a copy of his record on request.

Simply put, it is illegal not to keep the medical records of patients, period.

How is it possible to train nurses, medical students and specialist doctors if no medical records are kept in the hospital? How are training errors arising from patient encounters with junior doctors corrected- an essential component of the training/residency process worldwide.

How are results of patient treatment researched and analyzed and then improved or discontinued?

How do we avoid the boisterous assertions of clinicians- often accompanied by chest thumping and hand waving? How verifiable and useful are their research results?

In short how do we perpetuate the scientific legacy of Imhotep in an African University Teaching Hospital almost four thousand years after his death?

Are we proud bearers of his heritage or do we see our African culture as drumming, dancing and numerous family meetings prior to three day funerals?

If internally generated funds (IGF) can be found for high end cars for hospital bureaucrats then we should reprioritise, recalibrate and set up a functioning medical records unit for every department.

Certainly space can be found and developed. Staffing could even be found by employing students in shifts and paying them. Student or retiree volunteers might even be available.

We do not need to attack this simple problem by talking about an ultra-modern digital medical records system;  we do not have electricity and are currently not capable of maintaining such a system at this time; rent seekers beware - no (old and tired) tricks.

We can simply photocopy the records and KBTH keeps a copy; the patient may keep the other and return with it; it is that simple.

Please do not ask me who will pay for the photocopier and photocopy- I do not know.

The options are many if we jettison lethargy and obstructionist tactics and genuinely want to change the status quo for the better.

The KBTH must operate legally and at international standards; any thing else is unconscionable.

I will leave it to your imagination what tragedies have occurred and continue to occur on account of the status quo.

The floor is now open to the purveyors of mediocrity, the mendacious and mealy mouthed to provide verbose explanations as to how the current untenable situation occurred, what they are doing about it and why it will be near impossible to rectify.

Come on, we are Africans! Let us stop defacing Imhotep- the master architect and "the first figure of a Physician to stand out clearly from the mists of antiquity".

N.B. ANDREWS
Blebo We- Sakumo.

February 07, 2015

 

Publisher's note: This article does not say ALL hospitals; it says one specific hospital that is KBTH. The Military Hospital, SSNIT Hospital, Narh Bita, Lister, Nyaho Clinic and others do keep patients' medical records.