Alleged Effia-Nkwanta missing baby story was rather an abortion case

According to the viral news which was purported by Kelvin Taylor, a political activist, the pregnant teenager was referred to the Effia-Nkwanta Hospital from the Kwesimintsim Hospital after her water broke due to some complications.

After she safely delivered a baby girl at the hospital, GHS180 was demanded from the family so the baby could be put in an incubator because she was premature.

As they could not provide the said amount of money, the baby was pronounced dead the following day and the family were told the baby has been already taken to the mortuary.

It was further purported that, the hospital denied the family from seeing the baby which raised suspicion on the grounds that staff were trying to be sketchy. It was further alleged that the staff demanded money from the family before they see the body of the baby at the morgue.

Also, information about the teenage mother could not be traced in the hospital records after it was requested, suspecting that the staff are trying to erase possible evidence.

The Medical Director of Effia-Nkwanta Hospital, Mr Joseph K. Tambil speaking on Skyy Power 93.5FM’s Jolly Breakfast Show (JBS) debunked these claims.

Explaining further, on Wednesday, April 27, he made it known the girl was between the ages of 14-15 and getting pregnant at that age was medically not advisable.

Also, she came to the hospital when the pregnancy was 5 months after being referred from Kwesimintsim Hospital due to some complications with her pregnancy.

The medical team later realised that it was an abortion and the girl did not actually deliver since a fetus rather came out. The fetus was however breathing and the effort to save it proved futile.

“The grandmother of the victim claimed she had no money to keep the fetus in an incubator till it matures and since it is still a fetus, they can leave it to die but the medical team disagreed because it’s not professional ethical.”

“The fetus weighed 0.5kg and was only 5 months 2 weeks which we did not stand much of a chance to survive. The grandmother was then directed to go the registry to do a card for the baby but was not seen again until 3 days later.”

“The fetus could not survive since they could not pay the incubator cost which we kept the body for three days, looking at the condition we had to bury the body because we thought the grandmother and the girl had absconded because we get similar cases all time.”

“They later returned and we told them about what had happened and they went to spread such rumours.”