Living Like Arab Sheikhs!... Ken Kuranchie Writes

If you are unfortunate to have an accident on any of our highways, and you are badly hurt, you are most likely to die. It is the simple, brutal fact, because in all likelihood, you are most unlikely to receive first aid, or even if you receive first aid, it might not be the best. But supposing you get first aid, it is most likely that at the hospital, you might not receive the best of care, and even if you receive the best of care, that care might be denied you because you might not have some money in your pockets. And even if you have money in your pockets, the fact is that the level of treatment might be so slow and so tardy that you might die all the same. And still going on, the fact is that there are too few hospitals, and where there are hospitals, there might not be any doctors� The litany of limitations affecting our hospitals is legion, and it is because, over the years, our leadership in Ghana has done little or nothing to raise the level of medical care to the level anywhere near international standards. So that all the time, instead of seeking medical help locally, our leaders prefer to go outside to seek medical care. Last week, President John Evans Atta Mills, followed by a sizeable retinue, enplaned on Delta Airlines for the United States of America - According to him, he was on his way for a check-up. Now, all of us have often visited hospitals to have ourselves checked out and up, and believe you me, we do not go to even Togo to have our bodies examined. In fact, for the majority of Ghanaians, a taxi ride to the hospital would be a lucky ride. Most would get to the hospital by trotro, and only the very privilege would get to the hospital by their own private rides. Anybody who can afford an aeroplane trip to the United States, followed by a retinue of barely two dozen men and women, must be like an Arab Sheikh. And that is our President for you. When he was in opposition, President John Evans Atta Mills was often to be head claiming that he is a man who loves simplicity. He was once seen with a large plaque on his chest declaiming that Ghanaians are capable of managing their own affairs. Apparently, we can manage all our affairs except the health of President Atta Mills. Apparently his body is too good for the hands of our medical doctors. I would have had little or no problem with President Atta Mills if the money he was using on the jaunt to the United States was his own money. If he had been a business leader, an oil magnate, an international tycoon, I would have had no problems with him. But he is none of the above. He just happens to be the leader of one of the poorest nations in the world, and in that position., he has no business spending our money the way he is doing for just a routine check-up! Listening to the garbled statements by the President at the Kotoka International Airport as he was preparing to leave Ghana with his retinue, one got the distinct impression that he was going for the check-up in order to prepare himself for the electioneering campaign. Before I go, if Mills wants to live like an Arab Sheikh, he is welcome to it, but please, not on our largesse!