Health Minister Kwabena Mintah Akandoh has maintained that an apology was unnecessary over the April incident at the Tamale Teaching Hospital, arguing that he was the one disrespected, not the other way around.
Doctors at the facility had suspended services after what they described as “unwarranted attacks” by the Minister and Tamale North MP Alhassan Suhuyini during their visit to the hospital’s Accident and Emergency Unit on April 22, 2025.
They demanded unconditional apologies to Dr. Valentine Akwulpwa and staff, along with the provision of urgent medical supplies and infrastructure improvements.
Speaking in an interview on Channel One TV in response to the criticisms from the Doctors’ Association of Tamale Teaching Hospital (DATTH), Akandoh said he was surprised that anyone thought he owed an apology.
“There was no need for an apology,” he said. “I was actually surprised about what could cause anybody to be angry, because if anything at all, I thought that the leadership there would have also been worried about the way and manner the medical doctor spoke to his minister.”
Akandoh emphasized that the issue was not personal but one of principle.
“It is not Kwabena Mintah in person I am talking about, but whether you like it or not, at that point you had met your minister. Respect is supposed to be reciprocal,” he said.
The Minister further stated that the doctor involved had shown disrespect during the exchange.
“I was actually taken aback as to why anybody will think that it is the minister rather who should apologise when, in the clear view of everybody, it is rather the medical doctor who had disrespected the minister.”
Akandoh noted that the matter was later discussed with the Ghana Medical Association (GMA), where issues of logistics and equipment at the hospital were also addressed.
“So the Ghana Medical Association came, we sat down, I explained it to them and they said they needed some equipment. So we mobilised and gave it to them and let bygones be bygones,” he added.
Source: Adomonline
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