Speaker demands Emergency Care Law after engineer’s death sparks national outrage

The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, has called for the urgent enactment of an Emergency Care Law to address what he described as needless deaths of accident victims at health facilities across the country.
He said such legislation would ensure that negligent health workers are held accountable and prevent what he termed recurring misconduct within the healthcare system.
“There are many examples of these needless deaths in this country and the same people, when you see them working outside, their attitude is different, which means that there is something wrong here,” he said.
Mr Bagbin made the call following a statement on the death of a 29-year-old engineer, Charles Ammisah, an employee of Promasidor Ghana Limited, who was involved in a hit-and-run accident on February 6 this year.
The Speaker directed Parliament’s Health Committee to examine reports arising from investigations by the Ministry of Health and the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital and to interrogate their findings thoroughly.
He stressed that the circumstances surrounding Mr Ammisah’s death had become a matter of national concern and must not be left solely to the Ministry of Health or the hospitals involved.
“We have to take control and we need to enquire further into the matter and we need to hold people accountable. This is one of the needless deaths we have experienced in this country.
“At the end of the day, the Minister of Health, together with the committee, will have to come before this House and then we can take that opportunity to legislate on the matter and try to bring finality to these needless deaths in our country,” he said.
Mr Ammisah was reportedly involved in a hit-and-run accident at the Circle Overpass in Accra and later died after allegedly being turned away from several health facilities.
Citing Article 103 of the 1992 Constitution, Mr Afenyo-Markin said Parliament had a constitutional duty to investigate matters of public importance and expose inefficiency and maladministration.
He called for the Health Committee to be immediately empowered, under the Speaker’s directive, to summon the Chief Executive Officers and Heads of Emergency Units of the three hospitals involved.
He further urged the committee to demand the production of triage logs, duty rosters and bed occupancy records for the night Mr Ammisah died, and to determine whether the 2018 Ghana Health Service directive prohibiting the denial of emergency care was breached.
“If misconduct is found, sanctions must follow and if negligence is proven, prosecution must follow.
“If a systematic failure is identified, comprehensive reform must follow,” he said.
Delivering an emotional appeal, he added: “If a young man can be carried from one public hospital to another, refused at every door until he dies, then the social contract is broken and none of us is safe”.
“Not the rich, not the poor, not the politician, not the ordinary man on the streets; the death of Charles Ammisah must force this nation to change, as human life cannot be subordinated to administrative convenience.