Former Health Minister Bernard Okoe Boye has challenged recent legislative findings surrounding the death of Charles Amissah.
He said Ghana’s healthcare system remained under severe pressure due to structural weaknesses and overcrowding in emergency units.
Dr Boye questioned the fairness of sanctioning medical professionals without examining the failures within the healthcare system.
“If anybody does a report and says that that doctor should be sanctioned, I am 100% for the report. But if anybody tells me that a patient was taken to LEKMA, the doctors failed to receive the patient, and that alone means they failed at their job, I insist that such a statement is not conclusive; it is hollow.”
Dr. Bernard Okoe Boye
He argued that the absence of a centralised national referral system contributed significantly to congestion in emergency wards.
The former minister also criticised conclusions made by the Chairman of Parliament’s Health Committee.
He stated that doctors continued to work under difficult conditions with limited resources and inadequate bed capacity.
Dr Boye explained that emergency wards often operated like holding centres because critically ill patients occupied beds for long periods.
He noted that facilities such as LEKMA Hospital struggled with very few emergency beds despite large patient numbers.
He later detailed personal accountability of medical professionals in public hospitals.
Dr Boye maintained that investigations should consider the circumstances surrounding every rejected patient before assigning blame.
He stated that punishing doctors without assessing their workload appeared premature and unfair.
The former Health Minister added that Ghana’s doctor to patient ratio remained below accepted international standards in many hospitals.
Dr Bernard Okoe Boye responded to comments by Dr. Mark Kurt Nawaane regarding healthcare workers.
The committee chairman suggested that doctors who felt exhausted by their duties should resign from their positions.
Dr Boye rejected the remarks and referred to his own experience working forty eight hour shifts in the health sector. He said such comments failed to reflect the harsh realities faced by frontline medical workers.
He cautioned the public against treating the committee’s findings as a final verdict.
The former Health Minister described the report as only a prima facie assessment that still required further review by the Ghana Medical Council.
Dr Boye called for the release of full transcripts from the investigation.
He argued that the public deserved access to the testimonies presented by the accused doctors before conclusions were reached.
Dr Boye suggested that the responses from the medical personnel involved could influence public opinion differently. He therefore advocated for a transparent process that allowed a fair assessment of decisions made during emergencies.
Okoe Boye Blames System Failures For Hospital Crisis Fallout
Dr Bernard Okoe Boye stated that Ghana lacked adequate physical infrastructure for its growing population.
He explained that many patients arrived at emergency wards without prior coordination through a national referral system.
According to him, ambulances frequently transported patients to facilities that were already operating at full capacity.
The former Health Minister argued that public hospitals remained overcrowded because patients preferred facilities with lower fees.
“When you send a patient to UGMC and that if it’s an emergency case, you have to make some deposit. The charges at UGMC are not the same as Ridge. Ridge is cheaper. The politicians have given Ridge very low fees, and what they get can only sustain their consumables.”
Dr. Bernard Okoe Boye
He said hospitals such as Greater Accra Regional Hospital were more affordable than many private institutions.
Dr Boye explained that the low fee structure placed enormous pressure on healthcare staff and equipment.
He also accused the state of failing to invest adequately in hospital expansion and refurbishment projects.
Dr Boye also stated that fees collected at public hospitals mainly covered consumables and could not support infrastructure expansion.
He argued that the continued reliance on low social fees placed excessive strain on an already weak healthcare system. The politician urged policymakers to focus on long term reforms instead of targeting individual doctors.
Dr Boye called for a change in focus from individual blame to national healthcare reform.
He said only a properly funded and coordinated health system could prevent similar tragedies in the future.
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