MANAGING OIL AND GAS RELATED INJURIES— ARE WE PREPARED?
GHANA’S jubilee field has proven reserves of more than 600 million barrels of oil alongside natural gas. The International Monetary fund (IMF) predicts that the field alone could earn the country as much as $20 billion by 2030.
Since its discovery, many fora have been organised and attended by both local and international experts in oil and gas to share ideas on how the country could benefit immensely from the oil exploration to support its socio-economic development aspirations.
However, among the several discussions, the nation seems to have lost track of the devastating effects that the discovery might bring to the country upon an oil rig explosion.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic, the Director of the Korle-Bu Reconstructive Plastic Surgery and Burns Centre, Dr Opoku-Ware Ampomah, lamented that among the various discussions on the benefits of the oil discovery to the socio-economic development of the country, there is yet to be any of such discussions on the nation’s preparedness to salvage or manage any occurrence of an oil explosion.
The incidence of burning injuries in Ghana is high but the country currently lacks the needed infrastructure to handle even minor burns resulting from household and work-related activities.
Open cooking fires in the home and in the markets, as well as poorly regulated industrial accidents contribute to the high numbers of severely burnt patients we see needing critical care.
The country as of the moment has only two burns units at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital and the Okomfo Anokye Teaching hospital which were established in 1997 and 2001 respectively.
Unfortunately, both centres are under resourced in terms of equipment and personnel.
But as the workload steadily increases on the present two burns units in the country, coupled with the unannounced disasters of oil rig explosions as experienced in other oil producing countries, there is a pressing need for further development of burns centres in the country or at least, an appropriate resourcing of the few that we have currently .
According to Dr Ampomah, who is also the president of the Ghana Burns Centre, it would cost the country about $6 million to set up a burns centre with an Intensive Care Unit, to cater for such patients.
He noted that reconstructive surgery had a vital healthcare role to play in all societies since it helps to restore and rebuild people after accidents and disease.
Out of the 500 Out Patient Department (OPD) attendance recorded at the Korle-Bu Reconstructive Plastic Surgery and Burns Centre in 2010, 90 of them died, partly as a result of the lack of the needed infrastructure to deal with these mounting burns injuries.
The Okomfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, however, recorded 90 per cent survival rate out of the 1350 patients that reported to the unit since its establishment nine years ago.
Unfortunately, the challenges posed by the increasing attendance cannot be met by the Burns Centre at Korle-Bu and the Okomfo Anokye Teaching hospitals. More up- to-date facilities are urgently required to look after such critically injured patients.
Dr Ampomah acknowledged the fact that the country was not prepared to handle any oil rig explosion because as it stood, the two burns centres at the Korle-Bu and Okomfo Anokye Teaching Hospitals in their respective positions are under resourced in terms of equipment and personnel to handle any such situation .
He noted that, although it was recommended that at least a standard burns centre was available to a population of about five to 10 million, there was none in West Africa. Therefore, pressure from patients in the sub-region was being mounted on the only two centres at the Korle-Bu and Okomfo Anokye Teaching Hospitals.
Dr Ampomah said there were more people waiting for beds in order to be accommodated. The centre, which is always full particularly with patients with burns, at the moment has only 18 beds for burnt victims. The current overcrowding of the Burns unit encourages cross-infection and the situation is very far from ideal.
The 2009 annual report of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital reports the staff position of the centre to be four medical staff, 43 nurses, 16 health care assistants and 24 auxiliary staff as against an established norm of 16 medical staff, 66 nurses, 25 healthcare assistants and 64 auxiliary staff respectively.
Training workshops and continued volunteer involvement are essential for training medical, nursing and ancillary staff to maintain the expertise of the staff needed at the RPS and Burns Centres.
He estimated that about 35 per cent of burns cases, which were mostly domestic, affected children between the ages zero to five, explaining that, this was because most typical households did not have demarcated areas for play.
Typically, he said, people who had burns related injuries applied all sorts of things such as egg shells, shea butter, engine oil and all sorts of materials and advised that, the best first aid for the treatment of burns was to cool the burns under running water.
Dr Ampomah noted that the introduction of foreign materials to the burnt surface normally worsened the plight of the victim and could be a major source of infection. He therefore, called for intensive education in schools, churches and several groups in the society, on fire safety, prevention and treatment of burns.
A good start has been made but there is a need to provide comprehensive ongoing care for burns and trauma patients as well as the whole range of cases for reconstructive surgery . The way forward is to provide a more integrated new building of facilities that would provide surgery and rehabilitation for in-patients as well as out-patients.
In addition, intensive education on how to prevent domestic-related burns and how to handle burns domestically is needed to reduce the rate of child burns cases and other burns cases in general.
Since its discovery, many fora have been organised and attended by both local and international experts in oil and gas to share ideas on how the country could benefit immensely from the oil exploration to support its socio-economic development aspirations.
However, among the several discussions, the nation seems to have lost track of the devastating effects that the discovery might bring to the country upon an oil rig explosion.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic, the Director of the Korle-Bu Reconstructive Plastic Surgery and Burns Centre, Dr Opoku-Ware Ampomah, lamented that among the various discussions on the benefits of the oil discovery to the socio-economic development of the country, there is yet to be any of such discussions on the nation’s preparedness to salvage or manage any occurrence of an oil explosion.
The incidence of burning injuries in Ghana is high but the country currently lacks the needed infrastructure to handle even minor burns resulting from household and work-related activities.
Open cooking fires in the home and in the markets, as well as poorly regulated industrial accidents contribute to the high numbers of severely burnt patients we see needing critical care.
The country as of the moment has only two burns units at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital and the Okomfo Anokye Teaching hospital which were established in 1997 and 2001 respectively.
Unfortunately, both centres are under resourced in terms of equipment and personnel.
But as the workload steadily increases on the present two burns units in the country, coupled with the unannounced disasters of oil rig explosions as experienced in other oil producing countries, there is a pressing need for further development of burns centres in the country or at least, an appropriate resourcing of the few that we have currently .
According to Dr Ampomah, who is also the president of the Ghana Burns Centre, it would cost the country about $6 million to set up a burns centre with an Intensive Care Unit, to cater for such patients.
He noted that reconstructive surgery had a vital healthcare role to play in all societies since it helps to restore and rebuild people after accidents and disease.
Out of the 500 Out Patient Department (OPD) attendance recorded at the Korle-Bu Reconstructive Plastic Surgery and Burns Centre in 2010, 90 of them died, partly as a result of the lack of the needed infrastructure to deal with these mounting burns injuries.
The Okomfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, however, recorded 90 per cent survival rate out of the 1350 patients that reported to the unit since its establishment nine years ago.
Unfortunately, the challenges posed by the increasing attendance cannot be met by the Burns Centre at Korle-Bu and the Okomfo Anokye Teaching hospitals. More up- to-date facilities are urgently required to look after such critically injured patients.
Dr Ampomah acknowledged the fact that the country was not prepared to handle any oil rig explosion because as it stood, the two burns centres at the Korle-Bu and Okomfo Anokye Teaching Hospitals in their respective positions are under resourced in terms of equipment and personnel to handle any such situation .
He noted that, although it was recommended that at least a standard burns centre was available to a population of about five to 10 million, there was none in West Africa. Therefore, pressure from patients in the sub-region was being mounted on the only two centres at the Korle-Bu and Okomfo Anokye Teaching Hospitals.
Dr Ampomah said there were more people waiting for beds in order to be accommodated. The centre, which is always full particularly with patients with burns, at the moment has only 18 beds for burnt victims. The current overcrowding of the Burns unit encourages cross-infection and the situation is very far from ideal.
The 2009 annual report of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital reports the staff position of the centre to be four medical staff, 43 nurses, 16 health care assistants and 24 auxiliary staff as against an established norm of 16 medical staff, 66 nurses, 25 healthcare assistants and 64 auxiliary staff respectively.
Training workshops and continued volunteer involvement are essential for training medical, nursing and ancillary staff to maintain the expertise of the staff needed at the RPS and Burns Centres.
He estimated that about 35 per cent of burns cases, which were mostly domestic, affected children between the ages zero to five, explaining that, this was because most typical households did not have demarcated areas for play.
Typically, he said, people who had burns related injuries applied all sorts of things such as egg shells, shea butter, engine oil and all sorts of materials and advised that, the best first aid for the treatment of burns was to cool the burns under running water.
Dr Ampomah noted that the introduction of foreign materials to the burnt surface normally worsened the plight of the victim and could be a major source of infection. He therefore, called for intensive education in schools, churches and several groups in the society, on fire safety, prevention and treatment of burns.
A good start has been made but there is a need to provide comprehensive ongoing care for burns and trauma patients as well as the whole range of cases for reconstructive surgery . The way forward is to provide a more integrated new building of facilities that would provide surgery and rehabilitation for in-patients as well as out-patients.
In addition, intensive education on how to prevent domestic-related burns and how to handle burns domestically is needed to reduce the rate of child burns cases and other burns cases in general.
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