Kwesi Pratt is lying -Obetsebi-Lamptey

Mr Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, Minister for Information and Presidential Affairs, on Thursday repeated that Mr Kwesi Pratt, Editor of the Weekly Insight, lied about the cause of death of a patient at the Ridge Hospital.

"It is a matter of extreme regret that Mr Pratt should traumatise the family of the late Gladys Ampadu in such an irresponsible and cavalier manner," he said in a statement in Accra.

"It is a matter of even greater regret that when the truth was told to him, instead of him going back to check his story he rather continues to defend and more widely broadcast the lie," he added.

The Minister was reacting to the insight story, which alleged that a patient died on the operating table at the Ridge hospital because of a power failure.

The Minister attached the official report from the Ghana Health Service on the death and a statement from the Electricity Company of Ghana that there was no power outage that affected the hospital on June 7 or 8. The statement said the stand-by generator of the Ridge Hospital is in a poor state that requires a new one but added that the hospital's stand-by battery Unit was sufficient to deal with the situation.

It said in addition to the stand-by generator, the hospital, like many others, needed many things. In the case of Ridge Hospital, it needed an operating theatre, a functioning morgue and various types of equipment, some of them very basic.

The priority for Ridge Hospital, the statement said, was a functioning operating theatre. The Spanish Government, the Minister said, has been financing a hospital rehabilitation project following the President's visit to Spain last year.

"To date some hospitals have been provided with generators."

A generator for the Ridge Hospital is expected to be installed alongside other hospitals as part of ongoing programme to rehabilitate hospitals and clinics nationwide.

A report from Professor Agyeman Badu Akosa, Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, stated that no surgery was performed on the patient, neither was there a power outage.

It said laboratory results clearly indicate that the patient did not have typhoid fever and therefore, could not have had typhoid peroration as alleged by Mr Pratt.

The report said the cause of death was Gastroenteritis. It said the patient's out-patient and inpatient records, nurses notes and treatment management sheets are available and so is the medical cause of death certificate.

The report noted that although the theatre records for June 7-8 had gone missing, the theatre recovery notes and written statement taken from all medical staff who attended to the patient and those alleged to have seen and treated her, including those who could have assisted in the possible surgical operation, are available.