I could hear them screaming from highly-positioned vent-like windows which were probably sited to mask future noise but that could not curb it. Thoughts of new life brought into the world ran through my already tired mind, which was trying to relieve some stress from the ward cover duty I was doing. If only these neonates knew what awaited them in this world… Soon, I was at the main OPD which looked deserted probably due to the various families tending to their dead… Friday…
Suddenly i saw a white and yellow toyota sedan taxi speed to a screeching halt with one occupant of the vehicle literally flying out to the emergency room to seek for help. I wondered where lay the fate of this patient still in the taxi. I stood awhile to observe… cries amdst barking orders for certain interventions to be carried out as the old man was wheeled in on a trolley. I muttered to myself… life (with a subtle shake of my head). In contrast to all that was happening, the isolation block was serene, calm and felt like a ghost town. Probably because the occupants were to breathless to reel out in pain. I got to a familiar structure I had visited about once or twice since I started working at the Volta Regional Hospital… The Intensive Care Unit. Only 1 of the children we sent there had come out alive. Prior to that we had decided that it was a PLACE OF NO RETURN. That child was indeed a miracle… I was now lost in my thoughts and ended up at the main gate… I could hear 2 religious programs taking place silmantaneously with a choral effect. I sat with the security man, watching as people of different walks of life, some with a myriad of problems, some with thoughts of settling hospital bills went to and fro. My piano instrumental ringtone started playing and caller ID was the children’s ward… Duty calls…