Minister for Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, and Member of Parliament for Tamale North, Hon. Suhuyini Sayibu Alhassan, were involved in a confrontation with a health worker at the Tamale Teaching Hospital during a visit to assess the incident leading to the death of a patient which sparked public uproar.
The Minister, visibly angered by the conduct of the staff, bemoaned, saying: “How can you behave like this? So it means that he’s doing worse things here… There’s a problem. How can someone talk to this man here?”
The visit follows public outrage over reports of alleged negligence at the Tamale Teaching Hospital, which is said to have resulted in the death of a patient.
In a communiqué released prior to the visit, the hospital acknowledged the unavailability of the special procedure the patient required upon referral. It also confirmed that all beds in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) were fully occupied at the time, assurung an internal investigation has since been launched.
The Health Minister had earlier responded to a user on X (formerly Twitter) who tagged him, the Ministry of Health, and Hon. Suhuyini in a post drawing attention to the hospital’s situation. The Minister replied: “I’m currently in Tamale to assess the situation at the Tamale Teaching Hospital.”
This visit forms part of the Minister’s routine unannounced inspections of healthcare facilities. A recent visit at the Greater Accra Regional Hospital saw him direct management to halt the commercialisation of washroom facilities, among other reforms.