'No-bed' death: Life too cheap in Ghana – Otchere-Darko

The death of a 70-year-old patient after being refused admission by seven hospitals betrays how “cheap” life is in Ghana, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, founder of policy think tank Danquah Institute, has said.

Mr Anthony Achemapon died on 3 June 2018 at the LEKMA hospital after he was refused admission at six hospitals he had earlier been taken to by his family.

Mr Acheampon’s case has sparked national outrage on social media, resulting in the Ghana Health Service instituting a probe to tackle the problem once and for all.

“What happened to the late Obiri Yeboah is so so sad that it calls for a complete national outrage. It shows the systemic deficiencies in our service delivery system.

“Let us exert all the positive pressure we can muster to let this Government use this case of yet another avoidable death as the wake-up call to significantly tackle the systemic lack of care in our emergency response system, namely availability of ambulances, beds, etc.

“Life is sadly too cheap in Ghana and this must change!” Mr Otchere-Darko wrote on Facebook on Monday, 11 June.