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The Veep and the Defibrillator
E.
Ablorh-Odjidja
July 05, 2018
Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur’s
death is sad news, indeed as will be for any death.
But our
culture celebrates death, so we will have to accept news
of any death with a little
stoicism. And this goes for
the late Vice President too.
The late Vice
President Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur died recently at a Military
Gym at Burma Camp.
Responding
immediately to the news of his death, President
Akufo-Addo ordered that all flags in Ghana be flown at half-mast
for
"5 days of mourning."
The president has also
ordered a state burial for this august son of Ghana, as he
described it, contrary to the
VP family's request for a simple burial for their bereaved
relative.
For all the
clamor about flags being flown at half mast and state burial for
the VP, there is still the
shocking news about how the VP's died, the telling of which
would leave such a disisgrace on the nation that no state burial can wipe away.
Simply stated,
for lack of a
defibrillator at the military Camp gym of all places,
the VP died a needless death; a death that could have been
prevented, so said a doctor familiar with the case.
And for an
expenditure less than $2,000 (USD) per item, we could have had
many of this
life saving “easy to use Portable Automated External
Defibrillators” at the military Camp and other life saving
institutions around the country.
Just as there
wasn't a defibrillator at
the military gym, there sure wasn't any at nearby institutions
that should have them.
None at the Accra International Airport
nor the Military Hospital to accommodate the emergency, both
about ten minutes drive away.
The serious
guess is even if the Airport and the Military Hospital had a
defibrillator each, they were probably not working!
Yet ,in the
midst of this simple to solve but serious defibrillator dilemma,
Parliament is in a rush to approve a proposal worth $20 million for cars for
parliamentarians, if it hasn’t done so
already. (Parliament
to approve $22.5 million loan facility for MPs’ cars).
It is even yet to
occur to these parliamentarians to ask whether there is a single
defibrillator at any of parliament's own chambers, or hospitals lodged within
the constituencies that these new car seeking parliamentarians
serve.
In the midst of
this urgency, our parliamentarians are pushing for new cars.
Even while mourning the VP, there has not been any outcry against this lack of the essential defibrillator
at health facilities.
Not to be forgotten
is the fact that a former president, Dr. Atta-Mills, also died
in similar manner while in office - rushed to the Military
hospital under circumstances that a defibrillator could probably
have prevented.
One would think
this lack would be the first issue to worry our so called
statesmen on hearing the news about VP Amissah's death.
What we hear loudly
being proclaimed is the necessity for a state burial!
Pity, nobody
at Atta-Mills's funeral asked VP Amissah, who was in attendance,
whether he preferred a defibrillator rescue at the moment
of an emergency
to the manner of Dr. Attah-Mills’ rush to death on the way to
the hospital.
It is sad to
see an apparent strong man like VP Amissah die in this manner. But, please, let
us not emphasize the farcical nature of his death with this
insistence on a state burial.
E. Ablorh-Odjidja, Publisher www.ghanadot.com,
Washington, DC, July 05, 2018.
Permission to publish: Please
feel free to publish or reproduce, with credits, unedited. If
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publisher@ghanadot.com . Or don't publish at all.
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