Poor regulation is to blame for the purported malpractice at the at the Obengfo Hospital that has resulted in some deaths, Adentan MP, Yaw Buaben Asamoa, has said.
Speaking on The Big Issue, he said there was a lack of resilience from the regulatory authorities.
[contextly_sidebar id=”0ooYsaKcqrUJEHjtaywkBDMJU1SLrMrX”]This is after the death of the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the National Entrepreneurship Innovation Programme (NEIP), Stacy Offei Darko, reportedly at Obengfo Hospital.
The Director of Obengfo Hospital, Dr Dominic Obeng-Andoh, has also been arrested.
“I hesitate to say a failure of regulation, but indeed it is a lack of resilience and lack of real authority behind regulation. It is one of the things that bothers this country.”
“There will always be quacks. There will always be gaps, but the essence of regulation is to keep strengthening and keep demonstrating your ability to control the area,” Mr Buaben Asamoa said.
The Ghana Medical and Dental Council is the statutory body established by the Health Professions Regulatory Bodies Act, 2013 (Act 857).
The Council has said it is not to blame for the purported medical malpractice that may have caused the death.
The Council has seemingly laid the blame at the feet of law enforcement authorities.
The Registrar of the Council, Dr Eli Kwesi Atikpui, told Citi News the council is set to publish a report on their handling of activities of the centre.
This report is likely to contain correspondence with, among others, the current Inspector General of Police and the Attorney General’s office.
“The council is going to come out with a comprehensive report because we have written to the police service. We have written to the Director-General of the CID [Criminal Investigations Department] and the last letter that we wrote a few months back was to the Inspector General of Police himself”
But also on The Big Issue, social commentator, Sydney Casely Hayford, said the Ghana Medical and Dental Council could have still done more.
“If the Medical and Dental Council were fully aware that this man [Dr. Dominic Obeng-Andoh] was still carrying on the practice even though we have withdrawn his licence, there should have been either a weekly sight on what he was doing there and a warning to him to cease.”
“That should be the way we do things. You cannot just leave it alone like that whiles he just carrying on,” Sydney Casely Hayford stated.
Previous Obengfo controversy
This would not be the first time this hospital has courted controversy. In January 2017, the Medical and Dental Council closed down Obengfo Hospital for operating illegally.
That was the second legal action the facility faced after the council revoked Dr Obeng-Andoh’s licence in 2013 for operating illegally.
“The last time he [Dr. Obeng-Andoh] renewed his registration was in 2013, and he was supposed to renew his registration each year after it expired on 21st December 2012. We have made our presentations to the appropriate institutions, and we expect the appropriate actions to the taken,” the Registrar of the Medical and Dental Council, Dr Eli Atikpui told Citi News at the time.
Complaints and arrest
Dr Obeng-Andoh was, in December 2016, also arrested over the same issue after the Dental and Medical Council said it had received several complaints of medical complications from some persons who had patronised the facility.
According to the council, Dr Obeng-Andoh’s practice was dangerous to the lives of his patients hence the move to stop his operations.
Following threats by the council to lock up his hospital, the doctor went to court seeking an injunction on the council’s action.
But the case was thrown out of court after the judge discovered that Dr Obeng-Andoh’s lawyer was not qualified at the time of applying.
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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citinewsroom.com/Ghana