Pharmacist Kwame Sarpong Asiedu has criticised the sacked Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH) CEO, saying he should never have remained in charge of a collapsing facility.
The CDD Fellow said that this was in clear violation of documented health system assessments.
Speaking Wednesday night on Joy News’ PM Express, Dr. Asiedu said the time has come for professionals to stop hiding behind titles and take principled stands, especially when systemic failures in healthcare are ignored.
“That’s why I struggle to support the sacked CEO of the Tamale Teaching Hospital,” he said.
“Because all of us—myself included, Richard [Salomey], the president of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana, the president of the GMA—we have all read this report.”
He was referring to the Health Harmonisation Assessment Report—a document jointly commissioned by the Government of Ghana, the Ministry of Health, the Ghana Health Service, the Global Fund, and the World Health Organisation.
The report is part of the internationally accepted Holistic Assessment of Health Programmes of Work conducted for WHO member countries.
“The report says only 5% of our consultation rooms have the requisite equipment to adequately diagnose a person,” Dr. Asiedu stated.
“It’s not me saying it. It is in the report.”
He accused successive policymakers and health leaders of ignoring that alarming data and instead channelling resources into hospital construction without fixing the basics.
“We jettisoned that report and went into building hospitals,” he said.
“That is what I say—that as health professionals, this is what we should be telling the policymakers and the ultimate spenders, which in this case is the Health Minister.”
Asiedu was especially critical of what he called “political dishonesty” within the health sector.
“We should stop the political dishonesty,” he charged.
“Because whatever Richard [Salomey], General Secretary of the GMA, is saying and whatever I’m saying are in documents like the one I’ve referred to.”
His strongest words were reserved for health professionals who know the contents of these damning reports but continue to occupy positions in non-functional facilities.
“If you make decisions which are at variance with what the health assessment reports say, then we should walk away. It’s as simple as that,” he declared.
He said he couldn’t back a hospital CEO who stayed on despite overwhelming evidence that the environment was unsafe and unfit for healthcare delivery.
“Now you find yourself in confrontation with the Minister—I cannot support you. Because how did you sit down when those reports say what they say?” he questioned.
He admitted that the same criticism could be levelled at many professionals, including himself, but added, “That’s why I spoke out when those reports came out—to say nobody should be working under those facilities.”
In a conversation marked by candour and frustration, Kwame Sarpong Asiedu made it clear that the health sector’s dysfunction was not due to a lack of knowledge, but a lack of courage.
“We have the data,” he said. “But we continue to act like we don’t. That’s the real betrayal.”
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