The death of the former Vice President, unfortunately, reveals our unwillingness to think as a nation and solve the problems that confront us on daily basis. We have allowed partisan politics to take the centre stage in everything we do and we are not thinking in the national interest. When national leadership fails and refuses to solve problems that bedevil the nation head on, we will continually wake up to sad news like that of the late Vice President, Mr Paa Kwasi Amissah Arthur.
As unfortunate as it is, it is not surprising at all. The late President Prof Atta Mills, Mr P.V. Obeng and countless more died under very similar circumstances and till date nothing concrete has been done to improve conditions to make health facilities capable of responding to emergency situations. Due to the fact that people in authority can afford medical care abroad, there is no real quest to deal with systemic challenges confronting healthcare delivery in Ghana. People in authority should not forget that the late Mr Kwadwo Baah Wiredu, Major Courage Quashigah and Mr Jake Obetsebi Lamptey among others, flew out as living individuals but returned as dust and ashes. What goes around indeed comes around! Let begin to deal with the problems inherent in the health sector and quit the knee-jerk reactions and the hypocrisy.
The issues confronting healthcare delivery in Ghana include the following:
The threat of wrong medication is rife at health facilities across Ghana. My own experience and myriads of many seekers of medical care attest to this. My wife was given the wrong medication at a Government Hospital in the Ashanti region. I shudder to estimate how many innocent and precious souls have been lost as a result of medical negligence by health officers nationwide. As usual, we only get to hear the stories of those who are “human” (the rich and powerful in society. The rest of the citizenry is treated as guinea pigs and sacrificial lambs. Human life in Ghana is worth the amount of money one possesses, the family ancestry one answers to, one’s political leanings and social standing. Ghana is simply an “Animal Farm”. Some are more human than others. This is the hidden truth the ordinary Ghanaian is not told in plain language. The level of hypocrisy in this country is nauseating and heartrending.
Nonchalant attitude of most nurses and doctors is palpably terrible. They simply do not care about the patients they handle at the various health facilities in Ghana. I have met genuinely concerned nurses and doctors but they are unfortunately in the minority and scattered wide apart. There are instances where people will attest to the fact that most health officers now treat patients based on personal relationship and fringe benefits. If you want decent medical care and attention, you need to pay extra cost to merit that. Hospital beds, ambulances and first class care can be available based on whom-you-know and how much you are willing to pay.
There is cancerous infiltration of partisan politics into health facilities and services. Promotion at medical facilities, becoming a medical director or CEO of hospitals are all tied to which political party one is affiliated to. Funnily but worryingly, today you can have NDC caucus and NPP caucus at medical facilities and teaching hospitals across Ghana. It is no longer a question of who has served his country with finesse and diligence, political expediency and correctness override all other considerations. Patriotism and nationalism are surreptitiously replaced with allegiance to a political party. Worse still, projects and health facilities are sometimes abandoned or left to rot out of blatant political malice. National interest and nationhood are dead, what’s alive is partisan politics, partisan interest and bigotry.
There are a lot of poorly resourced health facilities in terms of logistics, infrastructure, personnel, oxygen supply, and the availability of beds. Patients sit and rest on wheelchairs, plastic chairs, verandahs and open spaces for treatment thereby worsening the health conditions of patients. There are hospitals, polyclinics and clinics dotted around the country without resident doctors, specialists and surgeons. Hence, non-complicated cases that require specialist or surgical attention have to be referred to regional and teaching hospitals, hence, the no bed syndrome in those facilities. Sadly, our medical facilities across Ghana have become death traps and exit points to the grave.
Currently, most students who enrol in our nursing colleges and universities as nurses and doctors are basically motivated by job security and money. In most cases, they have no passion for the work they do and empathy for patients. Economic gains come before any other considerations. Riches are now better than a good name, no wonder bribery and corruption are the order of the day. Greed fills our hearts and chokes our choices.
Ghana’s current population situation has outgrown the capacity of our health facilities. A reflection of our nation’s lack of vision and long-term thinking. Despite the fact that our population grows above 2% annually, we are making no efforts to expand our health facilities across Ghana. There is no concrete national vision, national plan and national policy on healthcare delivery as well as all other sectors of Ghana. Health facilities in and around our major cities have been outstripped by the sheer number of people accessing them. Humans in Ghana are treated like mere objects and animals without human dignity and respect. Only the rich are accorded befitting treatment and attention. We have no value for human life today.
People in authority seek medical care abroad because of the precarious and deplorable state of health facilities. This puts them in a state of inertia and insensitivity. I think it is about time all Ghanaians rose up and spoke against the unfortunate state of healthcare delivery in Ghana. I do not understand why it should normal for politicians and public officials to seek medical care abroad while the good people of Ghana wallow in harrowing death traps in the name of healthcare. If not for anything, all public officials/politicians must receive healthcare in Ghana, that is the only way they will be compelled to improve healthcare delivery in the country. If that should take public picketing and demonstrations, so be it.
There is no well thought out the medical emergency system in place. I fear and wonder what would happen if there is a national disaster. Poor and inadequate ambulance support systems and communication between health facilities are major threats to healthcare in the country. If the whole country can only boast of 55 ambulances as we speak, this suggests that with an estimated population of 29 million people in Ghana, there are about 572, 272 people to an ambulance support service. To all intents and purposes, even in the best case scenario where ambulance support service is required, just one out of one hundred people may survive in an emergency situation. This is a great cause for concern and urgent steps ought to be taken to forestall further deterioration. When it comes to things that should inure to the benefit of the citizenry, people in authority can afford to dilly dally but when it comes to largesse for politicians like luxurious vehicles and housing, those are treated as urgent matters in Parliament. When ordinary Ghanaians die in similar circumstances no one seems to lay it to heart that human lives are at stake. It is only when people in authority and in ivory towers are involved that it becomes a matter of national interest and discussions. We have operated in a state of inertia and neglect for far too long. This is not what any serious-minded society or country does to her citizens.
Calls by officialdom for probe, criminalization and investigations into incessant deaths at our health facilities are unnecessary, hypocritical and playing the ostrich. We need “MALT” (More-Action-Less-Talk) leadership. Enough of crocodile tears and lip service, WE NEED ACTION NOW!! The state of medical care in the country is in a state of national crisis. We need to declare a state of medical emergency. May God help leadership to think and solve the problems that militate against our homeland Ghana.
(Clement Adjei Sarfo, leadershipempowermentint.org, sarfo22@yahoo.com, 0274445696)
