Ignace Deen Hospital
Encyclopedia
The Ignace Deen Hospital (Hôpital Ignace Deen) is a hospital in Conakry
, Guinea
built during the colonial era. A report in 2011 described the conditions as squalid, with poor quality of care. During the election campaign in October 2010, the hospital received several dozen supporters of the Presidential candidate Alpha Condé
, apparently suffering from poisoning. They later recovered after treatment by traditional doctors.
The hospital is situated next to the National Museum
.
The original name honored doctor Nöel Ballay, the first governor of Guinea in 1890 after it became separate from Senegal
.
The hospital was renamed following independence after a director in the Sékou Touré era, Ignace Deen.
The Touré regime was ruthless in suppressing dissent. After the discovery of a coup attempt was announced in 1969, the 42-year-old surgeon-general of the hospital, Dr. Maréga Bocar, was condemned to a lifetime of forced labor.
Between 1986 and 1988, a European project coordinated by the University of Liège
rehabilitated the Ignace Deen Hospital.
Without European funding, it could never have been rebuilt and re-equipped.
It is one of the two National Hospitals with a reference laboratory, the other being Donka Hospital
.
Ignace Deen is also a university hospital (Centre Hospitalo Universitaire, or CHU), as is Donka, the only two in the country.
A February 2011 report said the hospital had dilapidated infrastructure, poor sanitation, stifling heat, stench, lack of water and electricity, lack of drugs and maintenance. A bribe was required to gain admittance. There were few doctors. Wards were crowded, infested by bed bugs and mosquitoes. The toilets were clogged and there was an acute shortage of drinking water, which relatives of the patients were expected to supply.
After a serious traffic accident killed two people and seriously injured three others in April 2008, the wounded were rushed to the hospital. There they waited for more than two hours without care, since the nursing staff had not been paid. This is common practice in Guinea, and many patients die due to non-payment before they receive emergency care.
A 1991 study at the hospitals in Guinea found that the main causes of maternal death were abortion complications, which were linked with hypertension, and postpartum bleeding.
A 1995 study at Ignace Deen found that anemia
accounted for 65% of all maternal mortality.
A study at the hospital showed high rates of sexually transmitted diseases among pregnant women including Candidosis (28.76%), Vaginal Trichomoniasis
(13.88%), Chlamydia trachomatis
(3.37%), HIV
(2.38%), Syphilis
(0.99%) and Gonococcus (0.40%).
Over a five year period, 41 cases of chronic pulmonary heart disease
were observed at the hospital, representing 7.14% of hospitalized patients. The condition ranked 4th after hypertension
, various myocardiopathies and valvulopathies.
A demonstration on Independence day on 28 September 1993 was violently suppressed by troops. Official accounts said 18 people died and 198 were injured. Hospital records show 31 deaths, 21 at the Donka hospital and 10 at Ignace Deen, and 225 wounded.
On Independence Day 2009, several thousand people staged a demonstration against the military rule of Captain Moussa Dadis Camara
outside the Conakry Grand Mosque
. It was reported that demonstrators were "trapped, brutalised, humiliated, beaten up, raped, stabbed and killed by drugged squads of the army". Authorities gave a death toll of 56, but human rights groups reported over 150.
The bodies were taken to the morgue in the Ignace Deen Hospital, which was placed under military guard.
An International Commission of Inquiry was established to investigate the violence, taking evidence from doctors at Ignace Deen who had given first aid and had heard the firsthand accounts of the victims.
In October 2010, several supporters of the presidential candidate Alpha Condé
were admitted to Ignace Deen hospital complaining that they had been poisoned by Fulani.
Condé's wife, Mme Condé djene Kaba, and other female leaders made a public visit to the victims, who appeared to be in considerable pain.
The news caused violence in Upper Guinea, with people from Middle Guinea being killed or expelled and their property vandalized.
When the hospital director Mme Hadja Fatoumata Binta Diallo said the Condé supporters were in no danger and no deaths had occurred, Prime Minister Jean Marie Doré suspended her for making speculative statements before a full medical analysis had been completed.
After two weeks, the victims were visited by a team of traditional healers from Upper Guinea who performed gestures and incantations that caused them to immediately return to health.
Binta Diallo was reinstated by the President later that month.
Following Condé's election, in January 2011 Dr. Mohamed Awad was appointed director-general of the hospital.
He replaced Dr Fatoumata Binta Diallo.
Conakry
Conakry is the capital and largest city of Guinea. Conakry is a port city on the Atlantic Ocean and serves as the economic, financial and cultural centre of Guinea with a 2009 population of 1,548,500...
, Guinea
Guinea
Guinea , officially the Republic of Guinea , is a country in West Africa. Formerly known as French Guinea , it is today sometimes called Guinea-Conakry to distinguish it from its neighbour Guinea-Bissau. Guinea is divided into eight administrative regions and subdivided into thirty-three prefectures...
built during the colonial era. A report in 2011 described the conditions as squalid, with poor quality of care. During the election campaign in October 2010, the hospital received several dozen supporters of the Presidential candidate Alpha Condé
Alpha Condé
Alpha Condé is a Guinean politician who has been President of Guinea since December 2010. He was a political science professor at the University of Paris and spent decades in opposition to a succession of regimes in Guinea, unsuccessfully running against President Lansana Conté in the 1993 and...
, apparently suffering from poisoning. They later recovered after treatment by traditional doctors.
Origin and location
The Ignace Deen Hospital, originally called the Hôpital Ballay, was built during the colonial era in the old town.The hospital is situated next to the National Museum
Conakry National Museum
Conakry National Museum or Guinea National Museum is the national museum of Guinea, situated in the capital, Conakry. It was established shortly after independence in 1960. It contains displays of the ethnography and prehistory of Guinea, and has a considerable collection of masks and fetishes and...
.
The original name honored doctor Nöel Ballay, the first governor of Guinea in 1890 after it became separate from Senegal
Senegal
Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...
.
The hospital was renamed following independence after a director in the Sékou Touré era, Ignace Deen.
The Touré regime was ruthless in suppressing dissent. After the discovery of a coup attempt was announced in 1969, the 42-year-old surgeon-general of the hospital, Dr. Maréga Bocar, was condemned to a lifetime of forced labor.
Between 1986 and 1988, a European project coordinated by the University of Liège
University of Liège
The University of Liège , in Liège, Wallonia, Belgium, is a major public university in the French Community of Belgium. Its official language is French.-History:...
rehabilitated the Ignace Deen Hospital.
Without European funding, it could never have been rebuilt and re-equipped.
It is one of the two National Hospitals with a reference laboratory, the other being Donka Hospital
Donka Hospital
The Donka Hospital is a publicly owned hospital in Conakry, Guinea. It has inadequate facilities to handle demand, and many Guineans cannot afford its service...
.
Ignace Deen is also a university hospital (Centre Hospitalo Universitaire, or CHU), as is Donka, the only two in the country.
Quality of care
A travel guide describes the hospital as "not very reliable".A February 2011 report said the hospital had dilapidated infrastructure, poor sanitation, stifling heat, stench, lack of water and electricity, lack of drugs and maintenance. A bribe was required to gain admittance. There were few doctors. Wards were crowded, infested by bed bugs and mosquitoes. The toilets were clogged and there was an acute shortage of drinking water, which relatives of the patients were expected to supply.
After a serious traffic accident killed two people and seriously injured three others in April 2008, the wounded were rushed to the hospital. There they waited for more than two hours without care, since the nursing staff had not been paid. This is common practice in Guinea, and many patients die due to non-payment before they receive emergency care.
Diseases
Maternal mortality is high in Guinea due to lack of primary health care, poorly equipped obstetric wards in referral hospitals, untrained personnel and lack of health education.A 1991 study at the hospitals in Guinea found that the main causes of maternal death were abortion complications, which were linked with hypertension, and postpartum bleeding.
A 1995 study at Ignace Deen found that anemia
Anemia
Anemia is a decrease in number of red blood cells or less than the normal quantity of hemoglobin in the blood. However, it can include decreased oxygen-binding ability of each hemoglobin molecule due to deformity or lack in numerical development as in some other types of hemoglobin...
accounted for 65% of all maternal mortality.
A study at the hospital showed high rates of sexually transmitted diseases among pregnant women including Candidosis (28.76%), Vaginal Trichomoniasis
Trichomoniasis
Trichomoniasis, sometimes referred to as "trich", is a common cause of vaginitis. It is a sexually transmitted disease, and is caused by the single-celled protozoan parasite Trichomonas vaginalis producing mechanical stress on host cells and then ingesting cell fragments after cell death...
(13.88%), Chlamydia trachomatis
Chlamydia trachomatis
Chlamydia trachomatis, an obligate intracellular human pathogen, is one of three bacterial species in the genus Chlamydia. C. trachomatis is a Gram-negative bacteria, therefore its cell wall components retain the counter-stain safranin and appear pink under a light microscope.The inclusion bodies...
(3.37%), HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
(2.38%), Syphilis
Syphilis
Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the spirochete bacterium Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum. The primary route of transmission is through sexual contact; however, it may also be transmitted from mother to fetus during pregnancy or at birth, resulting in congenital syphilis...
(0.99%) and Gonococcus (0.40%).
Over a five year period, 41 cases of chronic pulmonary heart disease
Cor pulmonale
Cor pulmonale or pulmonary heart disease is enlargement of the right ventricle of the heart as a response to increased resistance or high blood pressure in the lungs ....
were observed at the hospital, representing 7.14% of hospitalized patients. The condition ranked 4th after hypertension
Hypertension
Hypertension or high blood pressure is a cardiac chronic medical condition in which the systemic arterial blood pressure is elevated. What that means is that the heart is having to work harder than it should to pump the blood around the body. Blood pressure involves two measurements, systolic and...
, various myocardiopathies and valvulopathies.
In the news
The hospital must periodically deal with the aftermath of political violence.A demonstration on Independence day on 28 September 1993 was violently suppressed by troops. Official accounts said 18 people died and 198 were injured. Hospital records show 31 deaths, 21 at the Donka hospital and 10 at Ignace Deen, and 225 wounded.
On Independence Day 2009, several thousand people staged a demonstration against the military rule of Captain Moussa Dadis Camara
Moussa Dadis Camara
Captain Moussa Dadis Camara now called Moïse Dadis Camara is an ex-officer of the Guinean army who served as the President of the Republic of Guinea's National Council for Democracy and Development , which seized power in a military coup d'état on 23 December 2008 after the...
outside the Conakry Grand Mosque
Conakry Grand Mosque
The Conakry Grand Mosque is a mosque in Conakry, Guinea, located north of the Conakry Botanical Garden. It was built by Ahmed Sékou Touré, opening in 1982...
. It was reported that demonstrators were "trapped, brutalised, humiliated, beaten up, raped, stabbed and killed by drugged squads of the army". Authorities gave a death toll of 56, but human rights groups reported over 150.
The bodies were taken to the morgue in the Ignace Deen Hospital, which was placed under military guard.
An International Commission of Inquiry was established to investigate the violence, taking evidence from doctors at Ignace Deen who had given first aid and had heard the firsthand accounts of the victims.
In October 2010, several supporters of the presidential candidate Alpha Condé
Alpha Condé
Alpha Condé is a Guinean politician who has been President of Guinea since December 2010. He was a political science professor at the University of Paris and spent decades in opposition to a succession of regimes in Guinea, unsuccessfully running against President Lansana Conté in the 1993 and...
were admitted to Ignace Deen hospital complaining that they had been poisoned by Fulani.
Condé's wife, Mme Condé djene Kaba, and other female leaders made a public visit to the victims, who appeared to be in considerable pain.
The news caused violence in Upper Guinea, with people from Middle Guinea being killed or expelled and their property vandalized.
When the hospital director Mme Hadja Fatoumata Binta Diallo said the Condé supporters were in no danger and no deaths had occurred, Prime Minister Jean Marie Doré suspended her for making speculative statements before a full medical analysis had been completed.
After two weeks, the victims were visited by a team of traditional healers from Upper Guinea who performed gestures and incantations that caused them to immediately return to health.
Binta Diallo was reinstated by the President later that month.
Following Condé's election, in January 2011 Dr. Mohamed Awad was appointed director-general of the hospital.
He replaced Dr Fatoumata Binta Diallo.