It’s naive for leaders to think they are immune to our poor health system – CDD-Ghana fellow

Dr. Kwame Sarpong Asiedu, a pharmacist, has advised Ghanaian politicians and government officials not to fool themselves into thinking they are unaffected by the country’s subpar healthcare system.

He stated that because our leaders often have checkups in other nations, which they consider to have well-designed and efficient healthcare systems and trust that they will receive the best care, they appear unconcerned and make choices on our healthcare system without giving it any thought.

“I struggle when people tell me that our leaders are not subject to our health system, the truth is they are subject to our health system, but they don’t know. The truth of the matter is this, for management of their chronic ailment, they can go abroad and do it, we hear it every time, the Speaker is going here, the President is going there, and we hear it,” he said.

However, Dr. Asiedu, who also serves as the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development’s (CDD Ghana) Democracy and Development Fellow for Health, claimed that our politicians frequently appear to forget that, in an emergency, they will still be liable for our healthcare system.

Speaking on Joy FM, he named certain well-known leaders who, due to their vulnerability and lack of other options, turned to the Ghanaian healthcare system, out of which some tragically perished.

“But that’s the reality, we were here when the President in an emergency like that was subject to the health system, we’ve seen a number of prominent statesmen not being able to be flown out, we’ve seen the Vice President, it is very naive if they think they are not subject to the health system,” he said.

He asked government officials and leaders to address and improve our flawed healthcare system and quit acting as though they are unaffected by it. Unfortunately, it is these emergency situations that are more likely to claim lives than the routine checks the leaders attend.

“The dangerous part for me is that when they’re subject to the health system, they are at their most vulnerable, and that is even scary.”

“So it is even more important for them to fix the health system because they use other health systems that are thriving, that are well designed for their routine stuff, but those health systems would not be available for their emergency stuff.”

“And more often than not it’s the emergencies that take you out not the routines,” he said.