Friday 28th March , 2014 9:09 pm
Alhaji Muntaka
The Majority Chief Whip in Parliament, Alhaji Mubarak Muntaka says the preliminary investigative report stating that the missing baby at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) was accidentally burnt together with medical trash in the hospital’s incinerator is not the true account.
“The reports that we have at Komfo Anokye is that the incinerator that is used in burning medical waste had not been put on five days before this incident and it was never put on I think even three days after incident,” he explained.
The Health Minister, Sherry Ayittey is reportedly to have said the body of the baby cannot be found because it was accidentally burnt according to the investigative report.
Speaking on an Accra based Joy FM, Alhaji Muntaka, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Asawase in the Ashanti Region, the constituency where the mother of the missing baby, Suweiba resides maintained that he has “is a true information.”
He revealed he had been in constant touch with the management of the hospital after the incident happened and so he is well informed on the matter.
The Asawase MP said he will demand a copy of the Minister’s report through Parliament since he is unsatisfied with the report from the Ministry.
“If they are telling me or they are telling all of us that they used any other method rather than using the incinerator…if they are saying that they are telling us that it was burnt together with trash, then they would have to come and explain when, where, who supervised that? That is very, very important,” he stressed.
According to him, he early on did not intervene in the matter because the Speaker of Parliament gave a directive in the House for members to allow the Ministry to finish its work.
The Parliamentary select committee on health is scheduled to visit KATH next week to get first hand information on the matter.
Ms Ayittey is also suggesting a compensation discussion to be undertaken with the mother of the missing baby, Madam Suweiba.
Alhaji Muntaka however says he is against the possible compensation by the Health Ministry.
Doctors have claimed that Suweiba’s baby boy died at birth, but have failed to produce his remains.
Police investigations have established that apart from Suweiba’s baby, the hospital has failed to account for four other babies delivered around the same time at the Hospital.
A number of hospital workers have since been dragged to court to face criminal charges.
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By: Efua Idan Osam/citifmonline.com/Ghana