Sekondi, Feb 26, GNA - Some nursing mothers at the Effia Nkwanta Hospital are using a combination of "Akpeteshie" or "Apio" (local gin) and paracetamol as a pain reliever, a GNA investigation has revealed. The investigation showed that doctors, nurses and paramedical staff of the hospital have no idea that some women who under went caesarean operation are using the concoction to supposedly curb post operation pain.

Some of the women said apart from the soothing effect of the combination, it enabled them and their babies to sleep better and facilitated the discharge of waste material from their system. One woman told the GNA that she asked her relatives to buy her the drink and kept it in her locker.

''To avoid detection the "Apio" is tied in transparent rubber, using the quarter size of a pint, and it is consumed nocturnally." "It is good for the sore in my stomach and when other spices are added it helps boost appetite and sleep,'' she said.

Meanwhile, a lot of women are becoming stranded at the hospital due to their inability to settle their medical bills.

One woman (name withheld) who had already spent six weeks in the hospital after her discharge cannot afford the bill of 1.4 million cedis.