The Executive Secretary of the Bureau of Public Safety, Dr. Nana Yaw Akwada, has called for immediate leadership accountability at the Ridge Hospital following the recent assault on health workers, stressing that the hospital’s Medical Director should have already been relieved of her post.
His comments come after the August 17 incident in which relatives of a patient allegedly attacked nurses and other staff at the hospital’s emergency unit, leaving some injured and sparking widespread concern about safety in health facilities.
Speaking on Channel One TV’s The Big Issue on Saturday, August 23, Dr. Akwada described the assault as a major security failure that should not be tolerated in a national referral facility.
“If I were the Minister of Health, considering all this talk about accountability, the Medical Director would be cooling off at home by now to start with because security has been breached,” he insisted.
According to him, it is unacceptable that in 2025, a major regional hospital located in the heart of Accra still lacks basic security infrastructure such as CCTV cameras, electronic access controls, and adequate personnel to protect staff and patients.
“It doesn’t make sense to me that in 2025, a hospital such as Ridge has no security systems in place,” he lamented.
Dr. Akwada stressed that holding the Medical Director accountable would send a strong nationwide message to other healthcare leaders about the urgent need to prioritize staff welfare and patient safety.
“The Medical Director should be cooling off at home, and it should send a signal to all medical directors to put in place proper security systems within their health facilities to ensure that these things do not occur,” he added.
His remarks add to growing public pressure on the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service to not only investigate the assault but also implement stronger security measures across hospitals, many of which have in recent years recorded incidents of attacks on nurses, doctors, and administrative staff.
