NPP's Paul Yandoh slams Ashanti regional minister, health minister over ongoing KATH crisis

The Ashanti Regional Communications Director of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Paul Yandoh, has launched a scathing attack on the current NDC administration, accusing government officials of gross incompetence and negligence amid a deepening healthcare crisis in the region.

Addressing a press conference in Kumasi, Yandoh highlighted the dire situation at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, where he said the emergency centre is currently turning away patients due to a lack of space.

Yandoh particularly took a swipe at the Ashanti Regional Minister, Dr Frank Amoakohene, questioning his commitment to the region’s welfare. He alleged that at a time when the region is grappling with critical health delivery challenges at the emergency ward, the Minister had abandoned his post to accompany his wife abroad for childbirth.

“Can you leave a population of about four million people to follow your wife to the US to deliver? It shows clearly that you have nothing to do. If he had been around, we could have solved one or two issues,” Yandoh said.

The Communications Director further criticised the Minister for Health over the suspension of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Dr Paa Kwesi Baidoo.

He argued that the suspension was a reactionary and harsh move that has only worsened industrial relations, leading to strikes by doctors and nurses.

“When you are in the midst of a crisis, you don't waste the situation. You find amicable solutions. Taking harsh decisions in such situations only results in strikes, and at the end of the day, it is the patients who suffer, not the government officials,” he said.

Yandoh accused the current administration of deliberately refusing to operationalise several world-class health facilities completed under the previous Akufo-Addo-led government.

He cited the Trede Hospital, the Fomena Hospital and the Sewua Regional Hospital as examples of completed projects left to deteriorate while citizens struggle to access healthcare.

He dismissed claims by the current administration that these facilities were not connected to electricity, describing such excuses as falsehoods.

“Can it ever happen that a president would commission a facility without electricity? That is a lie. Recall that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Pentecost Prayer Centre was converted into a health facility to save lives. How much more a permanent structure built specifically for that purpose?” he asked.

Yandoh concluded by urging the John Dramani Mahama-led NDC government to prioritise the health and wellbeing of citizens over political gimmicks.

He appealed to the authorities to immediately open these facilities to the public to ease the burden on existing hospitals, warning that the NPP will continue to hold the administration accountable for what he described as a total collapse of the regional health sector.