Copyright theinsightnewsonline
Read Time: 6 minutes On Thursday October 23, 2025 when the news started circulating about the passing of our former First Lady Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings. I started thinking of all the prominent figures who died of medical emergencies. President Atta Mills Vice president Amissah Arthur PV Obeng and all the other Ghanaians who have died from medical and accident emergencies. As a Board certified internal medicine physician who has had the privilege to work both in Ghana and abroad. I can voice my concerns about this issue. I worked in the USA for 20 years prior to relocating to Ghana in 2021. My period in Ghana was spent working at a non governmental facility for almost 2 years (2021-2022. ). I returned to USA in January 2023. When people ask me how was the healthcare experience my first thing is “ if you have a problem that can linger for 48 to 72 hours with the right resources you will have about 80% survival but if it’s an emergency like we do get here in the states then your survival is less than 20% “ ( I’m being modest). Let’s take our former First Lady. She was seen at a memorial service the day before looking at her usual self without any doubt in pretty good health. So how does such a person drop dead in less than 24 hours?? It has to be a medical emergency. For most adults in that age range it’s always a cardiovascular or respiratory emergency. Cardiac can be a heart attack ( acute myocardial infarction), a sudden split in one of the large blood vessels ( aortic dissection), a stroke involving an area in the brain that is vital in controlling other essential organs etc. respiratory causes like a massive pulmonary embolism ( clots in the blood vessels supplying the lungs) or pneumothorax ( sudden tear in the lung causing air to leak in the chest cavity and squashing the lungs) or a really bad asthma attack that is fatal. I’m not saying people don’t die of these things in the USA but it’s the way we take them seriously when they happen. The ambulance service in the field will alert the appropriate hospital that can handle the emergency. They will do their best to triage (figure out) what is happening give first aid and stabilize the patient. Send information about the patient situation and what they suspect is going on with the patient, what time they will get to the nearest hospital. This gives the emergency room a few minutes ( remember MINUTES) to prepare. If the patient has to have a cardiac intervention the cardiac specialist and unit are on standby for the heart attack for example. So within MINUTES patients are in the cath lab having stents. These patients most of the time are ready to go home after these interventions in 24-48 hours! Someone will say in typical Ghanaian attitude “ aha enye abourokyire”. My beef with the system is the stealing of resources that can easily fix these kinds of emergencies. Why are people stealing millions of dollars from the people of Ghana and building and buying million dollar homes when we lack basic emergency care. How many hospitals can you walk in and get an ECG done within a day. ( I won’t even say an hour) these are equipment you can get for less than $1000. Every ambulance should have one on board as well. Every hospital should have that! There are even cheaper models. Equipment to check oxygen levels and deliver appropriate oxygen to patients. Meanwhile we would build houses and sell them for millions. Then there is the point of care for blood work. As an internal medicine physician or for that matter emergency medicine physicians our practice is all about labs and other investigations. Every emergency or urgent care facility can get basic labs within minutes or an hour of you getting there. These sometimes involve test kits readily available in the emergency room bedside before labs are taken to the central lab to confirm, which by the way will get the results ready within an hour. What about CT scan and even X-rays?? I won’t even go there. My mother had a stroke and went to a teaching hospital. No CT scan in the emergency department we had to arrange for ambulance to transport her to another area of the hospital for CT scan ( at least it was working that day). At least we could afford that arrangement and logistics, what about the people that couldn’t afford this arrangement. Don’t even talk about blood transfusions needs. Emergency needs for blood transfusions are non-existent. The onus lies on the family finding blood in an emergency for their loved ones. People always say we cannot do it because of money. REALLY!! When I see the money we waste on things in Ghana like using $25 million to paint walls along streets ( they are already peeling anyway). Someone stealing from their job to invest in real estate or other businesses that do not benefit ordinary Ghanaians then I’m sad. We have good medical personnel who when they leave Ghana and are given the right tools are able to deliver first class services. So providing the right equipment and support can change a lot. USA was not always like this but every time something unfortunate happened we analyzed and learned from it and implement strategies that will prevent occurrence and improve outcomes. Medical personnel also need attitude changes. I have seen a few videos of emergency care workers sitting or standing around not giving a hoot about what is going on. I always say the dying patient will not have the strength to scream and fight you but show compassion and empathy. I know we may lack the resources but showing that you care goes a long way and will let people know you did your best under the circumstances. Also who is available ( physicians) in these hospitals at certain times of the day makes a lot of difference. I can tell you there will be no physician specialists example cardiologists or cardiovascular specialists available in teaching hospitals after 2 pm or some weekends. So good luck if you have cardiac or respiratory emergencies at 3AM. Some specialities require 24 hour coverage in the hospital. Even if you’re not physically present you should be able to show up within an hour or two to intervene. It’s not only health care most things in Ghana need to be revamped. I see one area in Ghana that has gotten their act together. The banking sector. I’m not even going to talk about our engineers. Anybody will tell you who gets the most first class honors degrees at KNUST at least in my time. The engineers look at our roads and other infrastructure. I don’t even see why a market woman will be given a road contract when there are engineers who went to school for that. I don’t believe any bank will make their richest customer the manager because they have the money! It will always be the one with the right qualifications. Hospitals need good engineers to help install and maintain equipments. Putting the right equipment in the most accessible place makes a lot of difference in life or death situations. Back to healthcare we need to do better, we can do better and we should strive for better especially in emergency situations. I almost forgot about our politicians and the so called “elite” who feel they can jump on a plane and leave in an emergency let me warn you some emergencies require minutes or few hours to stabilize and fix. So in dire circumstances you will not even know or think about your passport. And medical evacuation flights even when you can afford will require some initial assessment and stability before they pick you up. ( By the way they don’t take cash so the $$$$ under your bed will not get you on a medical evacuation flight) So fix our healthcare and stop believing that you can escape! No you can’t even get on a plane with pneumothorax! I remember when they had an emergency in parliament and I think they bought a defibrillator GREAT! So after your are shocked with the defibrillator where do you go from there? Is there an emergency service picking you up and sending you to the appropriate emergency room for further investigation and management! Oh and what about us the ordinary Ghanaians where are our defibrillators? These things now cost $2000 each or less, $25 million can buy at least 10000 pieces, but I bet the government will give the contract to somebody’s wife with SHS certificate to handle it. In the end only 4 will be bought and the rest will go to land and building at airport hills. At the end of the day we are all going to die but if we can prevent the preventable deaths that will go a long way. I don’t expect everyone to agree with me on everything but that is your choice. Have a good day!
