Health Minister Kwabena Mintah Akandoh says an apology was unnecessary in the incident that occurred at the Tamale Teaching Hospital in April, insisting that he was the one disrespected, not the other way round.
Doctors at the Tamale Teaching Hospital suspended services following what they described as “unwarranted attacks” by the Minister and Tamale North MP Alhassan Suhuyini during a visit to the hospital’s Accident and Emergency Unit on April 22.
The doctors demanded unconditional apologies to Dr. Valentine Akwulpwa and staff at the hospital, in addition to a list of urgent medical supplies and infrastructure improvements.
Speaking to the criticisms from the Doctors’ Association of Tamale Teaching Hospital (DATTH) in an interview on Channel One TV’s The Point of View on Wednesday, October 15, the Minister said he was surprised that anyone believed he owed an apology.
“There was no need for an apology,” he said. “I was actually surprised about what could cause anybody to be angry, because if anything at all, I thought that the leadership there would have also been worried about the way and manner the medical doctor spoke to his minister.”
Akandoh stressed that it was not a personal issue but a matter of principle.
“It is not Kwabena Mintah in person I am talking about, but whether you like it or not, at that point you had met your minister. Respect is supposed to be reciprocal,” he said.
The Minister added that, in his view, the doctor involved in the exchange had shown disrespect.
“I was actually taken aback as to why anybody will think that it is the minister rather who should apologise when, in the clear view of everybody, it is rather the medical doctor who had disrespected the minister.”
According to Akandoh, the matter was later discussed with the Ghana Medical Association (GMA), where concerns were raised about logistics and equipment at the hospital.
“So the Ghana Medical Association came, we sat down, I explained it to them and they said they needed some equipment. So we mobilised and gave it to them and let bygones be bygones,” he said.
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