The Chairman of Parliament’s Health Committee, Mark Kurt Nawaane, has urged healthcare professionals who feel overwhelmed by the demands of the medical profession to resign rather than compromise patient care and professional ethics.
His comments come in the wake of the findings of a ministerial committee investigating the death of 29-year-old engineer Charles Amissah, who died after allegedly being denied timely emergency treatment following a hit-and-run accident in Accra earlier this year.
Speaking during an engagement with the investigative committee, Dr Nawaane stressed that the quality of healthcare delivery depended not only on hospital infrastructure and logistics, but also on the conduct and responsibility of individual medical practitioners.
“We are saying that it is beyond just the facilities; it is the individuals. Please, if you are a medical professional and you are tired of the work, you can resign. Ghana will survive,” he stated.
The investigative committee, chaired by renowned pathologist and former Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, Agyeman Badu Akosa, concluded that Amissah died from prolonged and preventable blood loss due to failures in emergency medical care rather than from the injuries sustained in the accident itself.
According to the report, Amissah was transferred between the Police Hospital, Greater Accra Regional Hospital, and Korle Bu Teaching Hospital after the February accident. Despite remaining alive during the transfers, he reportedly did not receive essential emergency interventions such as bleeding control, intravenous fluids, or blood transfusions.
The committee described his injuries as survivable if prompt emergency treatment had been administered at any of the facilities.
The report recommended disciplinary action against four doctors and three nurses from the three hospitals over alleged breaches in duty of care during the emergency response.
Dr Nawaane praised the committee for what he described as a transparent and courageous investigation, particularly for naming individuals allegedly involved in professional misconduct.
“Immediately we started and mentioned medical negligence and even started coming up with names, and I said thank God, this is a step forward,” he said.
He noted that previous investigations into similar incidents often focused solely on institutional shortcomings while avoiding individual accountability.
“Now we are saying that it is beyond just a facility. It is the individuals,” he stressed.
The Health Committee Chairman also encouraged medical personnel to seek support from senior colleagues whenever confronted with cases beyond their expertise.
“If you are ready to work, there are ethics. If you can’t do something, you call your colleague doctor or senior doctor. One funny thing about the senior doctors is that they are always happy to be called,” he added.
Meanwhile, Prof. Akosa cautioned against allowing the committee’s report to be ignored like previous inquiry findings.
“We believe that this is not the first time an event like this has happened. Committee reports were done and the reports collected dust. We want to ensure that this report does not collect dust but is acted upon,” he said.
The findings have sparked nationwide debate about accountability within Ghana’s healthcare system, especially regarding emergency response procedures and referral systems.
However, the Ghana Medical Association has expressed concern that public attention has shifted excessively toward blaming individual health workers instead of addressing deeper structural deficiencies in the emergency healthcare system.
In a statement issued on May 7, the Association acknowledged the committee’s findings but warned against reducing the tragedy solely to personal blame. According to the GMA, the report itself identified significant systemic weaknesses and longstanding gaps in emergency healthcare delivery in Ghana.
The Association argued that publicly naming the professionals involved risked diverting attention from the broader institutional reforms needed to prevent future avoidable deaths.
Following the report, Health Minister Kwabena Mintah Akandoh announced that seven health professionals from the three hospitals would face disciplinary proceedings.
The minister also outlined several reforms aimed at improving emergency healthcare delivery nationwide, including the introduction of a national electronic bed management system and the opening of the Ghana Armed Forces Critical Care and Emergency Hospital to the general public.
The committee further recommended the creation of a national emergency care fund to ensure critically ill patients receive immediate treatment regardless of their financial circumstances.
Prof. Akosa said the incident should serve as a turning point for Ghana’s healthcare system, warning that avoidable deaths would continue unless longstanding structural weaknesses were urgently addressed.
Story By: Eric Boateng
