A total of 559 road accident victims died in three major hospitals in the Greater Accra Region between 2020 and 2021, a study has revealed.
The hospitals according to the report were the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH), Greater Accra Regional Hospital and 37 Military Hospital which are also the largest public hospitals in the capital.
Titled ‘Accra Retrospective Hospital Study’, the study was conducted by Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road
Safety (BIGRS) in partnership with the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA), Ghana Police Service, Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), was aimed to give a national accurate data on road fatalities in the region within the period.
However, at the end of the study, the findings contradicted the police-reported number of 259 deaths recorded within the same period.
Speaking at the launch on Tuesday in Accra, Mr Ebenezer K. Baidoo, Officer In-charge of Road Injury Surveillance Coordinator of AMA and BIGRS, said, 3,385 road crash casualties were reported at the three health facilities.
He added that, of the total number of cases captured in hospital records, 85 per cent of deaths and 80 per cent were males, stressing that, additionally, those involved between the ages 20 and 49 accounted for 70 per cent of deaths.
“The number of deaths and injuries in hospital records fluctuated month to month with no observed seasonal pattern. However, deaths were frequently recorded in May, July, September and October.
“The high proportion of deaths and serious injury among pedestrians in both data sources highlights the need to prioritise actions to improve pedestrian safety in cities,” Mr Baidoo said.
The Metropolitan Chief Executive of Accra, Mrs Elizabeth Kwatose Sackey, said the report findings show that a higher proportion of the deaths in the hospitals were injuries to the head.
She said most of the fatal head injuries were motorcyclists and pedestrians, and called for strong collaborations between stakeholders to get accurate data on road crashes in the region.
The Acting Director General of NRSA, Mr David Osafo Adonteng, said the Authority would strengthen its awareness on road safety during the UN Global Road Safety Week.
BY BERNARD BENGHAN
