Should doctors leave their practice & enter politics?

The front page of the Saturday 18 august 2007 edition of 'The Mirror' newspaper captured three eminent medical professionals who had declared their interest in occupying the highest office in the land-the presidency. The front page caption with the title 'downing the stethoscope', was expatiated with an article by William Asiedu titled, 'doctors in the race to the castle', the doctors in question being Professors Frimpong Boateng and Agyeman Badu Akosa and Doctor Edward Mahama. After having thoroughly read the article, I was surprised to realise that the interest of the writer was not about whether those doctors in question could lead Ghana into an economic and social self realisation but rather explicitly sought to make popular the question supposedly on the lips of most Ghanaians that should doctors leave their practice and enter politics?-a question which is raised obviously to establish the perception that lives are lost only in the absence of doctors on the hospital wards. This perception which succeeds at denigrating doctors who express interest in national politics is very harmful to our body politic, detrimental to our social advancement and injurious to our economic emancipation. The danger that the above unfounded, erroneous and mischievous perception can create for national development is so grave and profound that I found it prudent and necessary to answer the so called big question, should doctors leave their practice and enter politics? The answer is that any professional of sound mind including doctors can enter politics for the following reasons:

Until the philosophy that considers politics as an art for the selfish and the dishonest, and a no go area for the self actualised and upright, is totally and finally discredited and abandoned, everywhere is poverty and hunger. Why should we Ghanaians be content with a news item that Mr Aliu Mahama wants to be president of Ghana but strongly criticise say Pastor Mensah Otabil, Professor Frimpong Boateng or a senior Muslim Cleric when they also express the same intention. For how long would we continue to allow the thought that politics is so much of an unholy faculty that those who have won the heart of Ghanaians through diligent service to this nation in their various fields of practice shouldn?t get their angelic and heroic gowns tainted with political stains? Assuming without admitting that politics is that unholy and unworthy, would we consider it wise to shield it from men of unquestionable repute and let the so called 'politicians' have a fields day engaging in their self centred actions? The worst events that have ever befallen mankind happened not because God had created atypical species of human beings but rather because sane and reasonable human beings sat on the fence aloof whiles those atypical humans perpetrated their dehumanizing and catastrophic acts. For a cardiothoracic surgeon who has produced five Ghanaian cardiothoracic surgeons, twenty Nigerians, a Togolese and Ethiopian cardio surgeons, why would any fair minded Ghanaian still insist that Prof Boateng should remain in the operation room till death when anything that can be offered by him is now entrenched in the capabilities of five surgeons. If the cardio centre was run effectively with the Prof alone in the operating room what at all makes some think that five of our own made and fine tuned in the image the Prof would be so insufficient that the professor?s presence is obligatory. We had Prof Frimpong Boateng leaving the theatre to the office as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KTH).

The man transformed KTH making it virtually self sufficient and drastically making indiscipline go extinct and consequently irrigating the seed of efficiency and a sense of responsibility in all the staff of KTH. Isn?t it strange that Ghanaians were so comfortable with the Prof being out of the theatre and sitting in the Administrative block of KTH but are upset with the man?s plans as well as that of other doctors to sit not in the administrative bock of hospitals but that of the country known in political circles as the castle. If a man like Prof Boateng could refuse huge incentives from German health authorities, leave Germany to Ghana, initiate and complete the establishment of a cardiothoracic centre at Korle Bu Teaching hospital, train professionals before retirement, resuscitate and revitalise KTH, why on earth should we find his interest in resuscitating this beloved country of ours as problematic and injurious to medical delivery and for that matter unfit for president.

Why are we comfortable with all our lawyers of today flaunting themselves as overt or covert politicians whiles pastors, doctors and other professionals are discriminated against. Lawyers like Nana Oye Lithur spend time working out possible legislation that would protect the vulnerable in society whiles eminent lawyers and law professors are using their energies in working out their strategies for sustenance of life in the Osu castle or the path to life in the castle. if media reports of the vulnerability of the poor and weak in society is enough to prompt people to salvage the poor from the storms of affliction and the claws of death, you can start imagining right away the enormous perishing souls that would be saved if lawyers started speaking for the poor by not just appealing to the conscience of people but more importantly reminding the government of the right of the people to live. As you can tell from the arguments I have advanced, saving lives can occur in almost any profession and not only on the medical ward, hence the call on the doctors to remain on the hospital wards and operation theatres is untenable, misplaced and disingenuous.

Mr Dan Botwe, a presidential aspirant of the new patriotic party is an Information Technology (IT) expert, honourable Yaw Osafo Marfo is a trained engineer, Mr John Evans Attah Mills is a law professor; if Mr Botwe had focused his energies on IT expansion policies in the interest of our rural folks, accessing information would be easy and once this is possible, the slavery of our people to ignorance would lose hold of its grip thereby allowing our people to access health education so perishing lives can be saved through preventive medicine which is anchored NOT ON THE PRESENCE OF A DOCTOR ON THE WARD OR A SURGEON IN THE THEATRE BUT ON THE AVAILABILITY AND ACCESSIBILITY OF INFORMATION. Having proven to you how an IT expert can also save perishing lives, would it be sufficient to say that Mr Botwe should uphold his IT prowess and eschew politics? That obviously shouldn?t be the case not only for IT experts but for lawyers, doctors, teachers etc.

The man with the biggest stethoscope in every society is the politician since the policies he formulates can give life to millions or take away the life of millions. The hospital is too small a place to rescue millions dying from starvation, preventable diseases, poverty and ignorance. In fact, its not only the hospital that is unsuitable but any other office in Ghana is highly incapable of single handedly rescuing the perishing and caring for the dying except the office of the president of the republic of Ghana where the one in charge can decide whether we should beg the Chinese for millions of dollars earmarked for presidential palaces and not teaching hospitals. The best place for rescuing the vulnerable, salvaging the weak and defending the poor is the Osu castle and any professional of our motherland who wishes to go there shouldn?t be judged by how many souls he can save if he remains confined within the walls defining his profession but rather by how many souls one helped to save in his professional career. Politics is not a preserve of a particular genre of people who have studied it or been in it, any individual with the intellectual wherewithal, requisite track record, and convincing vision should and must be given the opportunity to be scrutinised and not maligned, examined and not discriminated against, encouraged and not marginalised, listened to and not prejudged.

I have great reverence for all aspirants to the highest office of the land and it is out of the loins of this equal respect for all that I request for the ideal platform for the Osu castle tagged political contest; a platform devoid of personalisation, vilification, prejudice, discrimination, slander and or aggressions.Let me also mention that underscoring the suitability of the doctors for president in not necessarily indicative or suggestive of my support for them. I have made a deliberate and conscious effort not to raise any profession over the other to stress the need to appreciate the fact that politics as an art is not exclusive to any select profession and that in determining the suitability of candidates, it is substance not form that counts, a sense of commitment to the good of all citizens not one?s professional inclination that matters.

Okoe Boye Bernard
Vice president, knust, 2005 SMS, KATH.

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