Health Minister defends decision to reassign Ridge Hospital CEO
The Minister of Health, Mr Kwaku Agyemang-Manu, has defended the government's decision to reassign the former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Greater Accra Regional Hospital (formerly Ridge Hospital), Dr Thomas Anaba, to the University for Development Studies (UDS).
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Answering questions in Parliament in Accra yesterday, Mr Agyemang-Manu said the hospital had been redeveloped under a turnkey arrangement with new sophisticated equipment procured.
Therefore, he added, the hospital needed a permanent staff member to head the institution, since Dr Anaba was on contract.
He said the government did not want to train Dr Anaba, who was on a four-year contract, only for him to go away after some years.
To cure that, the hospital had to train a permanent staff member from the Ghana Health Service (GHS) to man the hospital, Mr Agyemang-Manu explained.
Secondment
The Member of Parliament (MP) for Wa West, Mr Joseph Yieleh Chireh, posed the question requesting the Minister of Health to explain why Dr Anaba was removed from office.
Mr Agyemang-Manu said Dr Anaba assumed office at the Ridge Hospital on secondment from the UDS.
He said on completion of the phase one of the redevelopment of the hospital and the subsequent handover of the facility to the GHS, it was realised that the contractor had to hand over to a permanent GHS staff member as CEO for obvious reasons.
"Dr Anaba was, therefore, asked to resume his permanent office at the UDS where he was seconded from,” he explained.
Background
Dr Anaba was asked to hand over to the Public Services Commission and directed to proceed to his former workplace at UDS in the Northern Region.
The Ministry of Health subsequently appointed Dr Emmanuel Kwabla Srofenyoh to replace Dr Anaba.
Dr Anaba said his reassignment contravened the law and that he had consequently sued the government over his removal from office three years before the expiration of his tenure.
He filed a writ praying the Supreme Court to issue an order declaring that the “decision of the Minister of Health contained in a letter dated May 10, 2017 was unlawful and, therefore, null and void and of no effect whatsoever”.
He is also praying for an order “reinstating” him as “Medical Director, Greater Accra Regional Hospital, Ridge in Ghana Health Service, or to an equivalent position in the Ghana Health Service without a reduction in the rank and other conditions of service”.
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