A couple in Accra went to the maternity unit of the 37 Military Hospital anticipating twins, but they were shocked to receive a single baby instead.
They are demanding answers from the hospital staff for allegedly being responsible for the apparent “disappearance” of one of the twin babies who had just been delivered.
On September 8, 2022, a Caesarean section was used to deliver the baby.
The mother of the alleged twin, Audrey Agyapong, a 38-year-old trader, and her 54-year-old husband, Daniel Naawu, are suspicious of foul play.
The pair described their story to the Ghanaian Times Newspaper in Accra. They remembered that an ultrasound done at two medical facilities, including the 37 Military Hospital, at 31 weeks into the gestation period revealed that Ms. Agyapong was carrying two living foetuses (twins).
The first scan result, which was approved by Dr. Otu Danquah, was reportedly performed on April 22, 2022, at the Cerica Diagnostic Services at Lartebiokoshie in Accra, when the pregnancy was 20 weeks along, according to further investigations conducted by the The Ghanaian Times.
In its findings, live intrauterine (inside the uterus) fetuses were found.
Additionally, a second ultrasound taken on July 21, 2022, at the 37 Military Hospital and authorized by Drs. M.T. Mpetey and R. Asiedu, a resident and senior physician, respectively, corroborated the results of the first scan, which showed twins A and B to weigh 269g and 261g, respectively.
Four different scans were conducted, all of which revealed that Ms. Agyapong was carrying living twins. “It is puzzling that one may disappear at delivery,” Ms. Agyapong told the Ghanaian Times.
She went on to explain that on September 7, 2022, at a gestational age of 38 weeks, she was admitted to the 37 Military Hospital, where her vital signs were examined and two normal fetal heartbeats were confirmed.
“On the 8th of September 2022, the morning of the operation, my babies were checked again and I was told they were both well. Double logistics were therefore taken for them. At the theatre, I was prepared for the operation and anaesthesia was given which completely numbed the lower part of my body.
“A screen was placed in the middle which prevented me from directly viewing what was happening. However, I felt the two babies being taken from my womb. Later, I heard a cry and one female baby was shown to me by a doctor named Dr Ali Saine, who told me ‘It is only one baby’.”
She added, “I was startled and whilst trying to process the import of what I was just told, I heard the doctor tell his team members to take out their phones and video it. I was taken to the recovery ward where the doctor told me he would come and talk to me,” recalled Ms Agyapong, who said she had been having sleepless nights since the incident.
According to the disturbed mother, to make matters worse, she was later told that what she thought was a second baby, was rather a placenta.
“I was shocked because this was not the first time I was giving birth and I know how one feels when the placenta comes out.”
Mr. Naawu, a senior driver for J.A. Plant Pool Ghana Limited in Accra, claimed that the purported loss of his baby was “unacceptable” because he was told to pay for two items before the procedure.
“I have twins from my previous marriage and was glad I was going to have another set only to be told this shocking story,” the evidently upset father fumed.
He continued: “As I speak now, I have not been able to outdoor the child, nor give her a name, because I do not know whether the missing baby is also female or male.”
