From:Dr Edward Kofi Omane Boamah
Dear President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo,
No elevator/lift days at the Ministry of Health ‘S3n’?
I mean, how!
I know you know people living with disabilities comprise over 2% of Ghana’s population. In truth, the last time I checked, the figure was circa 3%.
Mr. President Ghana is also blessed with the elderly who have their own aches and pains over and above the financial difficulties your government is visiting on them.
So, how does your government expect these vulnerable people, including pregnant women and children, to access the AFFECTED parts of the building that houses Ghana’s Ministry of Health (MoH) with the no lift days policy?
The Ministry of Health’s Memorandum attached refers to the details of the policy for your perusal.
Mr. President, I posit that, when the Ministry of Health of a country loses its salt and refuses to think favourably about the plight of vulnerable people in the country, then you know the nation is in big trouble.
This big trouble manifested as acute shortage of childhood killer diseases vaccines and previously showed as the Sputnik V vaccine scandal and more…
Mr. President, Professor Amartya Sen (Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, Nobel Laurate in Economics) in delivering the keynote address at the fifty-second World Health Assembly of the WHO emphasised the causal relationships between health and development.
Similarly, our own late Professor Kwadwo Asenso-Okyere (Former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana and a renowned Economist) also demonstrated the organic linkages between health and development in his scholarly works.
Obviously, the evidence linking health and development abounds, but the health ministry refuses to accept this reality through its actions and inactions.
Therefore, I urge you Mr. President to cause the Ministry of Health to immediately reverse the policy of “no elevator/lift…” at the Ministry of Health in the best interest of people living with disabilities, the elderly, pregnant women and for that matter children.
The Ministry and your government as a whole must rather cut costs in a manner that does not impact negatively on the vulnerable.
Downsizing the number of appointees serving in your administration is one way to enhance overall efficiency without impacting negatively on equity.
Thank you.
Dr Edward Kofi Omane Boamah
Health Policy Planning and Financing Analyst
Former Minister for Communications
Source:Mybrytfmonline.com
