The management of health and medical information in Ghana leaves much to be desired. This, is according to Dr. Bettina Ama Boohene-Andah, ex-President John Kufuor’s personal physician when he was in office.
Her comments come on the back of criticisms against the manner in which information concerning the health status of Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has been handled.
Dr. Bawumia traveled to the United Kingdom a week ago on medical leave after he was reported sick in a statement issued by the Presidency.
In a conversation with Kwaku-Sakyi-Addo, host of ‘The Lounge,’ Dr. Boohene-Andah advised that before any form of communication goes out to the general public in relation to the health status of its head of state, there should be coordination between all relevant parties.
“If a statement is going to go out, the politician should come together with the security and the medical team. We [medical team] give bare facts with the consent of the patient but as to how it is managed between security and his handlers, that is the problem,” she said.
She added; “We need to get the doctors or medical team, to communicate effectively with the politicians who are going to come out with the statements because what happens is that – doctor knows this is what is going on, the politician or whoever is working with the President or Vice President knows something else and so they come out with a statement. Doctor is not happy but is not going say anything until the President has told him that they should do, so it ends up being a bit messy.”
Regular Updates
Dr. Boohene-Andah, who still serves as ex-President Kufuor’s personal physician indicated that it is imperative for the general public to be given regular updates on such matters.
“Updates are important because if you don’t give people that information, it leaves space for people to then start conjuring things, fabricating things and then start thinking they know what they don’t know and when that information gets out there unfortunately, it does more harm than good.,” she said.
She however, cautioned that such information should be given out while taking into consideration, the country’s Patients’ Charter which states that “the patient is entitled to confidentiality of information obtained about him or her and such information shall not be disclosed to a third party without his or her consent or the person entitled to act on his or her behalf, except, where such information is required by law or is in the public interest.”
“First, we should take into consideration that they are just as human as we are and they are bound to fall ill. Yes, they are public figures therefore, my position on this is; if his condition or sickness is going to take the person away for a protracted period of time, or the person has a mental condition that is going to affect the work that he is doing, of course, we need to let the people over whom he rules know. However, the extent to which they should know is my problem.
“I think telling people the person is ill and is going to be off work for a while, for me is sufficient information,” but was quick to admit that “sometimes, people are not very satisfied with those updates because what you hear is ‘he is getting better.’ What does that mean?”
Sleep is Important
Dr. Boohene-Andah prescribed at least, a minimum of six hours of sleep for heads of states to aid the effective discharge of their duties
“People will say that [six hours of sleep] is virtually impossible for someone being a President…and that is the big problem I have with the handlers of Heads of State and even other VIPs. They tend to push them so much that they don’t have much sleep. And if you don’t have that much sleep, it affects your thinking, your mood and it has a lot of effects so six hours in 24 hours, realistically should do,” she explained.
The Lounge with Kwaku Sakyi-Addo airs live on Starr FM every Friday from 7pm to 8pm and on GHOne TV on Sundays from 8pm to 9pm.
Source: Ghana/Starrfmonline.com/103.5FM
