The Chief Executive Officer of the Consumer Protection Agency (CPA), Kofi Kapito, has called for a law to prevent government officials from seeking medical treatment abroad at the expense of the state.
Speaking on the JoyNews AM Show on Wednesday, 25 February, Mr Kapito argued that public office holders, including the president, should only be permitted to travel outside Ghana for medical care if they are paying with their own private funds.
“If you were to make a law that no government official, including the President, unless you use your own private money, cannot be flown outside Ghana for medical care,” he said, stressing that such a measure would compel authorities to prioritise improvements in the country’s healthcare system.
According to him, the continued practice of flying senior officials abroad for treatment undermines efforts to strengthen local hospitals. He suggested that if top government figures were required to rely solely on domestic medical facilities, it would create the urgency needed to upgrade them.
“If a few of them die in Ghana, they will make sure that the hospitals are fixed. So we should make that law. That is what we should do,” he stated.
Mr Kapito further drew comparisons with European countries, arguing that leaders there depend on their national healthcare systems. “From the beginning of Europe to the end of Europe, whether from France to Holland, Holland to Germany, Germany to England, there’s no way that a president or government official would be flown from England to Germany for medical care. That means your system doesn’t work. You should be ashamed of yourself,” he said.
His comments come amid public concern over the death of 29-year-old Charles Amissah, an engineer with Promasidor Ghana Limited, who sustained severe shoulder injuries in a hit-and-run accident at the Circle Overpass in Accra in February.
He was stabilised by emergency medical services (EMS) personnel and prepared for transfer to a hospital for further treatment.
Reports indicate that Amissah was unable to secure admission at the Police Hospital, Ridge Hospital, and Korle Bu due to a lack of available beds. While at Korle Bu, he reportedly went into cardiac arrest.
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Source: www.myjoyonline.com
