The African country declared three days of national mourning after a lightning bolt struck a petrol station in the capital Accra where hundreds had been sheltering from heavy storms. More than 150 people died and scores were injured.
Former Victoria College student Guy Stanley, who arrived in the country on the day of the tragedy to work at Accra’s Korle-Bu Teaching Hosptial, is now helping treat the many victims.
And the 35-year-old doctor narrowly escaped injury himself when the vehicle he was travelling in from the airport became swamped by a flash-flood.
Dr Stanley, who spoke to the JEP from Ghana, said he feared he was going to be ‘washed away’ when waters rose as high as the windows on his van, trapping him for four hours.
He eventually escaped unharmed and said the hospital where he is now based have dealt with 18 burned patients – six of whom are seriously injured – as a result of the petrol station tragedy.
He added: ‘The ages range from 18 to 30 and they have burns from six to 23 per cent. The two chaps I have been involved with have inhalation injuries and of these one is seriously burned and he is still sedated. He has 23 per cent burns to his face, chest and both arms.
‘When they arrived at the hospital their faces were burned white and were very swollen.’
‘The patients are extremely friendly. They or their family have to pay for their own medication so they often need antibiotics which they can’t afford. It’s hard to stand back and accept the plight of the very poor patients.’
The doctor, who said other hospitals in the city had also been inundated with casualties, was working abroad after he won £1,000 in a competition run by a charity that supports victims who have suffered severe burns or wounds.
He said he chose Ghana because of the work the Jersey Overseas Aid Commission does to support another charity called Resurge that trains plastic surgeons.
‘The burned patients that we are caring for will eventually require plastic surgery once their conditions stabilise but they will most likely be affected by debilitating scars,’ he added.
