'We should not get sensational' - Okoe-Boye to critics over 'dumsor' at hospitals

The Minister of Health-designate, Dr. Bernard Okoe-Boye, has dismissed claims that his outfit has not been sensitive to the plights of the various health facilities in the country in the midst of the power crisis (dumsor) the country is grappling with.

He argued that once the entire nation is experiencing erratic power supply, it will definitely affect health facilities. He added that provisions have been made to cater for such situations.

Dr Okoe-Boye explained that the reason some hospitals are unable to operate when the light goes off is due to the fact that their power plants or generators are faulty and may not have been fixed at that point.

During a press briefing held at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, the health minister-designate admonished Ghanaians to discuss issues objectively, instead of lambasting authorities.

“Because someone did a video of one minute, and 40 seconds and said lights have gone out, everybody goes emotional. The truth is that, if the country experiences some issues with power availability, hospitals are not outside the country, they will also experience some. Another truth is that most of our hospitals have standby power plants, but just like management of a house, you can go to a house, they have a generator but maybe the generator has an issue.

"Let’s ask a hospital, how is your generator? Is it working? If it’s not working, have you approached the ministry? If it’s working, who was in charge? Why didn’t you make it work? I don’t want to go into the details. We should not get sensational. Let’s stick to the essentials,” he said, according to myjoyonline.com.

Dr. Okoe-Boye went ahead to advise health facilities to make use of generators and power plants when the lights go off, to manage the situation.

There have been numerous criticisms directed at the health ministry over its failure to ensure that hospitals are not affected by the power crisis, to avoid risking lives.

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