A former Director General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Prof Agyeman Badu Akosa, has indicated that healthcare in Ghana, after 59 years of independence, is not worth celebrating.

Prof Akosa, who has served as a consultant histopathologist and clinical director of pathology in the United Kingdom for years, was of the opinion that a good healthcare system was the centre of growth for every nation.

In an interview with Ekow Mensah-Shalders on Class91.3 FM’s Executive Breakfast Show on Monday 7 March, Prof Akosa criticised government for failing to improve on preventive healthcare as well as curative systems.

To him, several factors have a direct impact on the health of citizens including food, clean water, clean air, clean environment, housing, transportation, and good roads, but leaders after Nkrumah have not done enough to improve these areas.

He said “sanitation, for example, is terrible, so air quality is bad. Vehicular pollution is rife, so, in tackling all the social determinants, you improve on the health of the people”.

He further explained that “all these things are the preventive arm of healthcare and [it was] not surprising that a country like Sweden [where these things are taken seriously], has a life expectancy of 85 years”.

He was of the opinion that: “We take basic things for granted and to me, even putting health at the centre of national development becomes a big rallying point to look after other social determinants”.

Touching on the administration and operation of health facilities, he said some hospital environments were “problematic” mainly because of “inadequate” and “overworked” staff.

“Empathy should be your middle name if you are a health worker,” he added.

He said all the various arms of the health are performing poorly in Ghana.