The Ashanti Regional Director of the National Service Scheme (NSS), Alex Opoku-Mensah, has rendered an unqualified apology for verbally abusing a nurse at the Manhyia Hospital.
This comes after an audio recording from the Manhyia District Hospital in the Ashanti Region. A male voice purported to be that of Mr Opoku-Mensah is heard raining insults on a nurse.
On Monday morning, Mr Opoku-Mensah was reported to have barged into the hospital’s surgical ward, where his daughter is currently serving as a house officer, to abuse and threaten the nurse verbally.
The attack is reportedly in response to the said nurse’s alleged intimidation of her daughter.
In a Facebook post, Mr Opoku-Mensah said, “I understand the disappointment and appreciate the inconvenience my action has caused the general public and the Nursing FRATERNITY and Manhyia Hospital.”
“This has never been my style, but for a genuine reason to mediate a persistent issue between my daughter (doctor) and a colleague nurse who I as well consider my daughter,” he said.
“I do apologise for my mishap and assure all that there will not be a repetition of such”
“I look forward to maintaining a cordial relationship with any affected person,” he stated in the apology.
Meanwhile, the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA) has called for the immediate dismissal of Mr Opoku-Mensah.
In a statement from the GRNMA dated November 29, 2022, the leadership of the association has called on the government to sack the NSS Director “having considered the audio and the report received from our Ashanti Regional branch.”
“Public Services Commission and Government, for that matter, should sack the said Regional Director immediately because he is not fit for the Director position he holds in the Public Service. He had absolutely NO RIGHT to enter Manhyia District Hospital and verbally abuse and threaten the nurse in question who was on duty at the time,” the statement read.
“We wish to state categorically that if the government does not relieve Mr Alex Poku Mensah of his duty as Ashanti Regional Director of the National Service Scheme within 72 hours, nurses and midwives of Manhyia Hospital will be called upon to lay down their tools, followed by the whole of Ashanti Region and then it will be escalated to the whole nation.”