A Specialist Surgeon at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital has criticised a brief meeting between government and some executives of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) on the medical drones saga, describing it as a failed face-saving move by the government.
Dr Hadi Mohammed Abdallah, also a member of the GMA, said a statement released by the government following the meeting indicates its misdirected determination to bulldoze through the implementation process of the controversial project, despite concerns by medical professionals.
“I don’t want to sound very harsh but for me, I see [the statement] as an insult to the Association and the intelligence of the members of the Ghana Medical Association,” he said Wednesday on current affairs programme, PM Express.
Following a one-sided but majority decision in Parliament on Tuesday, December 11, the agreement between the Government of Ghana and American firm, Fly Zipline Inc, was approved.
Related: Parliament approves medical drone agreement
By102 to 58 votes, the agreement to deliver essential medical supplies and blood to rural parts of the country was given the green light.
The Minority parliamentarians, who had mounted a strong opposition to the agreement, claim the deal is a misplaced priority and too expensive.
Shortly after the approval, the GMA, the umbrella body of doctors in Ghana, issued a statement that urged the government to suspend the implementation process until it was consulted.
According to the union of medical doctors, the project contravenes Ghana’s primary health care delivery systems, pointing out lack of personnel and basic infrastructure in the health sector as key challenges that must be addressed first.
The government expressed shock at the GMA’s opposition to the deal, citing a comment by General Secretary of the Association, Justice Yankson, as evidence that the Association was acting in bad faith.
Deputy Information Minister, Pius Hadzide, quoted Mr Yankson as saying “Well, for us as an Association, on countless occasions, we have bemoaned the state of emergency medical service in the country, so if efforts are being made by the government to ensure we strengthen that aspect of our healthcare delivery, then we say kudos...”
Dr Yankson has since denied the claim that the statement is evidence that the GMA backed the project.
Speaking on PM Express on MultiTV Wednesday evening, Dr Abdullah said the brief meeting between the GMA and the government – after which the statement suggesting parties have agreed to further consultations on the project was released by the government – was rather to discuss the misrepresentation of Dr Yankson’s comment by Mr Hadzide on the controversy.
“I have led junior doctors in this country before. I have been involved in meetings with the government. This has never happened before. Why [hold] a meeting between three members of the Ghana Medical Association…then all of a sudden they [government] releases a statement. Personally, I see it as an insult to our intelligence. A big, big insult and I am sure I am not the only one thinking like that.
“I can clearly see through what this was meant to do. It is a pure act of propaganda. And I challenge anybody, especially the one who wrote or signed that letter [to explain] the rush. Why the rush to release that statement. It is all because they want to save their faces,” he said on PM Express.
Implementation will go ahead
Speaking on the same programme, Mr Hadzide said the next stage of the project is the implementation because it has been approved by Parliament.
“The peoples’ representatives, the elected representatives of the people of Ghana, the Members of Parliament have accepted this deal and they and only they have the mandate and the legal constitutional authority to accept these things and they have done that,” he stressed.
He said other stakeholders in the health delivery system, besides the GMA, will also be consulted going forward.
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