Ghana Integrity Initiative questions 30 days ultimatum to find solution to abandoned patient

The Executive Director of the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), Mary Awelana Addah, says the 30-day timeframe given by the Ministry of Health (MoH) to the Ghana Health Service (GHS) to deliver a detailed report on the investigation into the supposed abandonment of a patient at Gomoa Ojobi, Central Region, is too long which can be worked on within short period instead. 

Speaking on Newsfile on Joy News, Madam Mary stated, “In this case, 30 days to what? Everything attests to what has been done. There is evidence to show that wrong has been done and certainly, those who have done the wrong are known. So why do we need 30 days to establish these facts which have already been established?

“It is through these we continue to see impunity thrive, it is through this we continue to let people go and when people continue to go scot-free for doing such wrong and such inhumane acts, then people are emboldened to continue to carry on”.

This comes after Ghana Health Service confirmed on Friday, June 14, that it had initiated a probe into the incident following the emergence of a video that sparked widespread speculation on Thursday, June 13.

The footage allegedly shows a woman, enveloped in sheets, abandoned in a bush.

The incident, which has been widely discussed on social media platforms, involves accusations that the woman was left in the bush by an ambulance belonging to the Trauma and Specialist Hospital in Winneba.

In a directive to the GHS dated Friday, June 14, Dr Bernard Okoe Boye, the Health Minister, emphasised that “It is the position of the Ministry that this process is concluded within a maximum of 30 days from the date of constitution of the committee and a report submitted to my office.”