Family demands answers after dialysis patient dies at TTH during power outage

He walked into the Tamale Teaching Hospital hoping to live. He walked out in a casket.

Sumaila Amadu, a 32-year-old chronic kidney disease patient who depended on dialysis twice a week to stay alive, died on the night of August 25, 2026, during a routine evening session at the hospital’s Renal Clinic.

His family says he did not die because his body gave up. He died, they allege, because the lights went out, and when the lights went out, so did the oxygen.

Three phone calls. That is all it took for Salman Al Faris to go from checking on his brother to learning he was gone.

The final hours

Salman, a Ghanaian creative professional and CEO of Brilliance Media GH, said he called his brother at about 9:00 pm on that Tuesday evening. Sumaila told him the dialysis session had begun.

He called again at approximately 10:20 pm. Sumaila said he was still undergoing dialysis and would call back later.

The third call, at about 10:45 pm, brought news that would shatter a family.

“I was informed by my friend, who had accompanied Sumaila to the dialysis centre, that there had been a power blackout and that Sumaila was having difficulty breathing,” Salman wrote in a lengthy Facebook post on August 29 that has since gone viral.

According to Salman, he was further informed that the hospital’s standby power plant was not working and that there was reportedly no oxygen available at the renal clinic at the time.

“My brother struggled to breathe during this critical period. Despite his efforts to survive, Sumaila eventually passed away,” Salman recounted.

‘A patient undergoing dialysis is already vulnerable’

The family, still in mourning at their home in Kintampo near Kyeremankuma, is demanding answers. Sumaila’s mother, who described her son as not just a child but a friend, broke down in tears as she recounted how her boy was left to die.

All she wants, the family says, is justice — for her son, and for every other patient who may have suffered a similar fate in silence.

“A patient undergoing dialysis is already in a vulnerable medical condition. Reliable electricity, oxygen and emergency support can be matters of life and death,” Salman said.

The family is calling for a thorough, transparent and independent investigation to establish exactly what happened during Sumaila’s final moments — what medical interventions were provided, whether oxygen was available, what caused the interruption to his dialysis, and whether the hospital’s emergency systems functioned as they should.

“This is not only about Sumaila. Today, it is my brother. Tomorrow, it could be someone else’s brother, sister, mother, father or child,” Salman said.

Hospital responds

When contacted by Joy News, the Tamale Teaching Hospital issued a press release through its Public Relations Officer, breaking its silence on the matter.

In a statement dated August 31, 2026, the Hospital acknowledged that a power outage occurred at approximately 8:48 pm on the day of the incident and confirmed that the outage was widespread, affecting areas beyond the Hospital.

The Hospital also disclosed that it has set up a multidisciplinary team to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death, with a mandate to submit its report within one week.

According to the statement, Sumaila had been scheduled to undergo eight dialysis sessions in August and had successfully completed the first four.

“Sadly, during the fifth scheduled dialysis session, the patient’s clinical parameters changed unexpectedly and became inconsistent with the progress that had been recorded during the preceding sessions.

The attending clinical team responded in accordance with established clinical protocols and standards of care,” the Hospital said.

The Hospital further stated that its medical oxygen system is an automated piped system integrated with the hospital’s electricity supply, with standby oxygen cylinders available as a contingency measure to provide oxygen directly at patients’ bedsides when required.

It also said it maintains standby generators, with technical personnel assigned on a rotational basis to operate and monitor them during power interruptions.

However, the statement did not explicitly confirm that these backup systems were actually functional on the night of Sumaila’s death, a key point the family has challenged.

Citing patient confidentiality, the Hospital said it could not disclose further details regarding Sumaila’s clinical condition, treatment, or the exact circumstances surrounding his death. It urged the public to refrain from speculation while the investigation proceeds.

Waiting for answers

The Hospital’s statement stopped short of confirming that the power outage caused the death, saying instead that the patient’s clinical parameters changed unexpectedly. But for the Amadu family, that explanation does little to ease the pain.

The family has prayed for Allah to forgive Sumaila, have mercy upon him, and grant him Jannatul Firdaus.

“Rest in peace, my brother,” Salman wrote. “You will never be forgotten.”

But they are also demanding accountability, not for revenge, but to ensure that no other family has to bury a loved one because a hospital was unprepared.

The outcome of the one-week multidisciplinary investigation is expected to provide further clarity on whether any failure in the hospital’s emergency systems contributed to Sumaila’s death.

JoyNews will continue to follow this story closely.

Also read:

• Kidney patient dies during dialysis at TTH, family alleges blackout, oxygen shortage

• Historic relief for Bono East as Holy Family Hospital receives first dialysis machines from…