Mahama laments decline in humanity and urges Ghanaians to be compassionate

Former John Dramani Mahama has expressed concern about what he described as the decline in the humanity of some Ghanaians.

His statement follows the alleged abandonment of a patient in a bush at Gomoa Ojobi in the Central Region by hospital staff at the Trauma and Specialist Hospital in Winneba.

The Ghana Health Service has initiated an investigation into the incident.

Related article: Winneba Hospital Director suspended over alleged abandonment of patient in a bush

Delivering a sermon at the Ringway Assemblies of God Church on Sunday June 16, Mr Mahama expressed worry that, assuming the hospital staff reportedly dumped the patient, who was still recovering by the road side and left, what about the residents in the area who saw her lying there for some days.

Couldn't they have offered help, Mr Mahama questioned.

Mr Mahama, who is flag bearer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) for Election 2024 was delivering the sermon to mark Men's Ministry and Father's Day.

He was of the view that if even the Winneba hospital staff were at fault, the woman could have been still alive if those who saw her lying by the road side had come to her aid.

He therefore called on Ghanaians not to forgo their sense of fellow feeling.

“The question is let's even leave what the hospital did, when the woman was lying there, people were walking pass. Indeed some of the eyewitnesses said we saw the ambulance come and put a woman there. And that she has been lying there for the last five days.

"The question I ask myself is did these people not read the parable of the good Samaritan. Because the woman laid there for five days. I remember there was a thunderstorm on one of those five days that cut the Winneba road or something. She was in that rain, and eventually she died", he said.  

He added that "And so the good Samaritan parable is not just a story that Jesus told. It happens every day in our communities and in our societies. That you see somebody in trouble and somebody suffering  and you don’t have time or mercy to even just go and see what is it that is happening to this person”.

Mr Mahama therefore urged Ghanaians to be compassionate towards people who are in trouble and the vulnerable.