Let me begin with some commendation to the above-named for the thorough work done and their recommendations. One caveat here: I only watched the video of Prof. Akosa’s delivery of the report, so I may have missed something.
I want to take respectful issue with their work and our national culture of burying our heads in the sand. First, the idea that the findings of the committee are new is astonishing. This “no-bed syndrome” has bedevilled us for decades. Indeed, I suggest respectfully that it was with us when the venerable Prof. Akosa was the Director of GHS. Indeed, it predated that era.
Second, I find the committee’s focus rather narrow. The idea that 3 bad doctors and 3 bad triage nurses in 3 of our best hospitals just happened to be at work on this particular day beggars belief. Those on duty that day were manifesting the system as it operates normally. There were administrators above them who designed and have operated this broken system and the relevant policies for a while, and the committee should have called them out.
Above the administrators, there are generations of politicians who have designed and operated the “no bed syndrome”, together with its twin brother, “cash-and-carry”, for generations, and the committee should have called them out. Those politicians emplaced a National Ambulance system staffed by carriers instead of trained Emergency Medical Technicians, and they should have been called out.
On that fateful day, our healthcare system functioned as it was supposed to function—inefficiently and without compassion. We should accept that it was NOT a few individuals who failed—it was the system that failed. And I know because I and many others have raised the alarm repeatedly without response for years—across governments and across parties.
Indeed, when similar failures occurred in Spain and Portugal, political leaders were disciplined, together with frontline staff.
Hopefully, the committee’s recommendations will be implemented. In addition, we need reforms of our national ambulance system to remove payment for fuel and to ensure the use of trained technicians. Furthermore, while doctors and nurses should offer some care for all patients during emergencies, we should have our hospitals equipped to care for strokes, heart attacks, routine injuries and other emergencies common to our environment. These changes should be codified in a comprehensive health reform law.
When these are done, hopefully, our leaders will abandon the practice of heading abroad whenever they are sick.
May God bless Ghana.
