Engineer and Policy Analyst Michael Kosi Dedey has criticised Health Minister Kwabena Mintah Akandoh for visiting the Greater Accra Regional Hospital (Ridge) and engaging cordially with the man accused of assaulting health workers at the facility.
His comments come in the wake of the incident at Ridge Hospital, where a medical staff member was allegedly attacked over claims of medical negligence after a patient was rushed to the emergency ward.
The development has already triggered threats from the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) to withdraw services in protest against rising assaults on health professionals.
Speaking on Channel One TV’s Breakfast Daily on Wednesday, August 20, Mr. Dedey questioned the relevance of the minister’s visit, arguing that it reflected weak management systems within the health sector.
He insists that the minister’s role should be to provide leadership through policy direction, not personal interventions in incidents that hospital management should handle.
“What is the minister going to do there? The Minister hasn’t gotten a duty for the day? The hospital authorities should have been able to take care of that situation. For me, again it points to week systems.
“Where it takes a minister to go into the hospital to go and do what? These are questions that we need to ask about management systems. That minister should be sitting in his office to assess what has gone wrong.
“Why couldn’t the hospital authorities control [the situation]? He should be looking at policies and guidelines to support the hospitals instead of looking for possible control opportunities.
“This is not leadership. The same minister has been going round fighting Chief Executives of hospitals. Clearly and consistently the minister has demonstrated these inefficiencies,” he stated.
GHOSPA demands justice after attack on Ridge Hospital health workers
