Parliament has been thrown into a state of mourning and outrage following the death of a 29-year-old engineer who was allegedly turned away from multiple hospitals after a hit-and-run accident, prompting the Speaker to call for urgent legislation to prevent such “needless deaths.”
Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, Speaker of Parliament, has directed the House’s Health Committee to launch an immediate investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of Charles Ammisah, an employee of Promasidor Ghana Limited, who died after being refused treatment at three major health facilities in Accra.
“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,” Bagbin said on the floor of Parliament.
The Speaker’s directive followed an emotionally charged statement by Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin, who described the incident as a “systemic failure of the state” that had fatally betrayed a young citizen in his moment of vulnerability.
A Life Lost at Closed Doors
According to the Minority Leader, the Ghana Ambulance Service received a distress call at 10:32 p.m. on February 6, mobilised within one minute and arrived at the Circle Overpass accident scene by 10:35 p.m. The victim was found bleeding profusely but with a fighting chance.
The ambulance crew stabilised him, controlled the haemorrhage and rushed him to what Afenyo-Markin called “the gates of hope.”
“But hope, Mr Speaker, was met with a closed door,” he lamented.
He alleged that personnel at the Police Hospital, the Ridge Hospital and finally the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital all declined to admit the victim, citing unavailability of beds. At none of these facilities was triage conducted, and vital signs were not taken.
After approximately 30 minutes of being shuttled between hospitals while remaining in the ambulance, Mr Ammisah went into cardiac arrest and was pronounced dead.
“A life extinguished not by the initial accident but by a systemic failure of the state,” Afenyo-Markin declared.
Parliament Takes Control
Speaker Bagbin stressed that the matter had transcended the remit of the Ministry of Health or the hospitals involved and had become a national concern requiring parliamentary intervention.
“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,” he said.
He directed the Health Committee to scrutinise reports from investigations by the Ministry of Health and Korle Bu Teaching Hospital and to interrogate their findings thoroughly.
The Speaker also called for the urgent enactment of an Emergency Care Law to ensure that negligent health workers are held accountable and to prevent what he termed recurring misconduct within the healthcare system.
A Directive Ignored
Afenyo-Markin reminded the House that in 2018, under the leadership of the then Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, a directive was issued explicitly prohibiting the denial of emergency care on the basis of bed availability.
“The directive was unequivocal as it mandated immediate triage, immediate stabilisation and the use of alternative surfaces, couches, tables, wheelchairs, where beds were unavailable,” he said.
“That directive was abandoned on the night Charles Ammisah bled to death in an ambulance.”
He called on the Health Committee to summon the Chief Executive Officers and Heads of Emergency Units of the three hospitals involved, and to demand triage logs, duty rosters and bed occupancy records for the night in question.
“If misconduct is found, sanctions must follow. If negligence is proven, prosecution must follow. If a systematic failure is identified, comprehensive reform must follow,” he insisted.
‘The Social Contract is Broken’
Delivering what many described as an emotional appeal, the Minority Leader warned that the incident exposed a fundamental breach of trust between the state and its citizens.
“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,” he said.
“The death of Charles Ammisah must force this nation to change. Human life cannot be subordinated to administrative convenience. Emergency cannot be optional, and our hospitals do not have the moral or legal discretion to abandon the dying.”
Avoid Politicisation, Speaker Warns
While acknowledging the difficult conditions under which many health workers operate, Speaker Bagbin insisted that patriotism and professionalism must prevail.
“Patriotic health workers have done that and people have survived through that. So please, the few that are miscreant should not be allowed to at least carry the day since that is what has been happening,” he said.
He cautioned Members of Parliament against politicising the tragedy, warning that “sometimes you forget you could be the one.”
Majority Leader Mahama Ayariga, who contributed to the debate, recounted surviving an accident himself due to the intervention of health personnel at the Tamale Teaching Hospital. He lamented what he described as growing indiscipline, disregard for human life and lack of empathy in some health facilities.
“We must be outraged about a thing like this, and I believe that we must get to the bottom of matters like this. Parliament, at all times, must hold those responsible for such conduct to account,” he said.
The Minority Leader also urged the Ghana Police Service to deploy every available investigative resource to track down and apprehend the hit-and-run driver responsible for the initial accident.
The Health Committee is expected to begin its inquiries in the coming days.
