A member of the Minority in Parliament has cautioned against politicising the recent controversy surrounding emergency healthcare delivery, insisting that doctors and nurses should not be blamed unless proven negligent through established medical procedures.
His comment comes after Health Minister Kwabena Mintah Akandoh directed disciplinary action against health professionals following a committee report into the death of 29-year-old engineer Charles Amissah in Accra.
Speaking during an interview on Joy FM’s Top Story on Thursday, May 7, ranking member on Parliament’s Health Committee Dr Nana Ayew Afriyie argued that Ghana’s emergency healthcare system — and Africa’s more broadly — requires urgent investment in human resource systems, financing, equipment, logistics, leadership, and ambulance care rather than emotional public condemnation.
He stressed that public discourse around emergency deaths often becomes overly emotional, leading to unfair attacks on health professionals.
“It has become one too many that people get too emotional, and what is happening now is that you are likely to get some people targeted unfairly.
“I don’t think doctors and nurses should be punished for anything unless there is clear evidence that they were negligent in the discharge of their duty, based on medical knowledge and professional standards.”
Responding to concerns about whether excessive bleeding could have been managed in the ambulance instead of waiting for hospital admission, he explained that the patient may already have been in hypovolemic shock before arriving at the hospital.
“That shock could have started right from the time the ambulance picked up the patient, or even when the patient was lying on the ground. Do you know the volume of blood he lost? Do you know the condition he was in when they put him in the ambulance? What interventions were done before they got to the hospital?” he asked.
According to him, medical emergencies should be assessed through technical understanding rather than emotion-driven reactions.
He further maintained that he did not support punitive measures against healthcare workers in the absence of confirmed wrongdoing. “I don’t think they have to penalise any nurse or doctor,” he added.
“We, the Minority will engage the minister before we state our position. You may do politics with it; we will not do politics with it. But we will not support any attempt to treat nurses or doctors as scapegoats.”
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Source: www.myjoyonline.com