Gloria Ofori-Boadu, the managing partner at GOB Law Consult, has called for a critical reassessment of Ghana’s emergency healthcare infrastructure following the untimely passing of John Kumah, Member of Parliament (MP) for Ejisu and deputy finance minister.
Kumah tragically passed away on Thursday (7 March), while being transported from Kumasi to Accra for medical treatment. Ofori-Boadu expressed bewilderment over why Kumah was not airlifted to Accra or attended to by a medical team at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital during his critical condition.
Ofori-Boadu said, “I’m wondering why such an eminent person in our society should be driven on the road all the way to Accra in an ambulance; didn’t we have any helicopters to get him to Accra or a team at Komfo Anokye to check on him?”
Speaking on the Forum on Asaase 99.5 Saturday (9 March), she said, “I think our emergency situation in respect of health should be relooked at. I remember when George Andah had an accident on the Winneba road, we were informed that he was transported to the military hospital by air and that I’m sure contributed a higher percentage to his survival. So we should have all these standby emergency and trauma prevention equipment in all our communities so that we don’t have a whole deputy minister being driven to Accra.”
Ofori-Boadu emphasised that the recent incident underscores a systemic failure that must not be repeated. “Sometimes, when there is traffic, it takes you about eight hours for that journey, a journey which should have been about four hours. So my heart breaks when I think of that. I think that was a failure in our system, and it should not be repeated for everybody.”
The legal practitioner urged authorities to take immediate action to enhance emergency healthcare services to ensure a timely and efficient response to medical emergencies across the country.
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