GMA President bemoans frequent changes of Health ministers

THE President of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA), Dr Emmanuel Adom Winful, has bemoaned the frequent changes of ministers at the Health Ministry and said it does not promote long-term planning.
He said the association he headed was non-political and, therefore, did not warrant him to comment on the Cabinet reshuffle. He, however, noted that frequent changes generally did not help in achieving set targets.
On the ongoing negotiations between the ministry and the GMA, he stated that although there were documents to enable whoever was appointed the Minister of Health to continue with, it never helped when there was a new face.
Dr Winful’s response comes in the wake of the nomination of a third person as the Minister of Health within two years of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government.
The first Health Minister under the administration was Dr George Adja-Sipa Yankey, who resigned over a bribery allegation. His deputy, Dr Benjamin Kunbuor, took over and worked for some months, only to be replaced by Mr Joseph Yiele Chireh in a reshuffle which was announced on Tuesday.
The GMA President said although some might argue that changes were sometimes good for strengthening institutions, he was of the view that appointees should be allowed to work a bit longer to enable them to implement some of the programmes they initiated, if not all.
He indicated that although there were technocrats at the ministry to continue with the work started by one minister and also help the new one to continue from where his predecessor left off, there was the possibility of a new appointee lacking the political will needed for the successful completion of a programme.