Keep health matters out of politics – MP Akwesi Acquah warns amid TTH doctors’ strike

Member of Parliament and a key figure on the Health Committee, Alexander Akwesi Acquah, has cautioned against politicizing healthcare issues, stressing that public health must remain a neutral ground in national discourse.

Speaking to ABC News GH on Friday, Mr. Acquah addressed the ongoing doctors’ strike at the Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH), which has disrupted emergency and outpatient services, urging striking doctors to reconsider their stance in the interest of patients.

“We have condemned the actions of the minister,” he acknowledged. “But if we insist that he must apologize before doctors resume work, then it’s the patients who are suffering. It will be two wrongs not making it right.”

Mr. Acquah made a passionate appeal to the medical professionals, urging them to prioritize patient care and resume duty while efforts are made to resolve the matter. “Issues of health—we want to take them out of politics because it may be you or me needing their service,” he warned.

His comments follow a broader appeal from the Minority on Parliament’s Health Committee, which on Thursday called on the Doctors Association of Tamale Teaching Hospital (DATTH) to suspend its industrial action.

The strike was triggered by allegations that Health Minister Kwabena Mintah Akandoh and Tamale North MP Alhassan Suhuyini verbally abused staff at the hospital’s emergency unit.

While the Minister has since denied any wrongdoing and called for dialogue, the impasse has entered its second day, leaving patients and families stranded and raising fresh concerns over access to critical care.