Ghana’s healthcare sector must not be reduced to violence when grievances arise, according to Member of Parliament’s Health Committee, Prof. Titus Beyuo.
He has strongly condemned the assault on nurses and medical staff at the Greater Accra Regional Hospital, stressing that proper disciplinary and legal avenues exist for citizens who feel wronged.
The legislator, who is also a medical doctor, noted that healthcare professionals have in the past been sanctioned through lawful procedures. “Have you not seen people sued and being asked to pay millions of cedis in this country? Have you not seen people take hospitals to court for not meeting standards, and win?” he asked.
He cited cases where doctors were suspended and licenses revoked, stressing that no one should claim there is no avenue for accountability. “We have doctors who have been suspended from practice. I have served on a professional and disciplinary committee, and we’ve struck the licenses of registered practitioners for not meeting the standard.”
Prof. Beyuo rejected suggestions that delays in complaint systems justify physical retaliation. “So we shouldn’t dare say that because the system may not respond promptly, then I should take the law into my own hands. If your teachers don’t teach well, do you go and beat them? If justice delays, do you attack police officers? Is that where we want this country to go?”
He described the Ridge Hospital incident as unacceptable, especially in a setting where vulnerable patients lie in pain. He recalled past investigations into complaints, such as the probe into the death of a 70-year-old man due to a lack of a hospital bed, where triage procedures were carefully examined against international standards.
Prof. Beyuo concluded by urging the public to seek legal and regulatory channels. “Test the law. Petition regulators. People can lose the right to practice as nurses, doctors, or pharmacists if they fail to meet standards. That is the path we should follow, not storming hospitals to beat health workers.”
