The embattled General Secretary of the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives’ Association (GRNMA), David Tenkorang-Twum, has threatened to teach journalists a lesson for criticizing health professionals.
The medical professional and lecturer has said that they have marked the faces of all journalists who criticized him and nurses in recent days over Ralph Saint William’s alleged attack on a nurse and will deal with them in due course.
“We have marked those journalists who spoke against us, and we will teach them a lesson when they come to the hospital. We have marked them, they will come and meet us at the hospitals”, he warned in a radio interview.
His comment comes in the wake of his recent unprovoked comment against the Health Minister Kwabena Mintah Akandoh and the alleged physical assault at the Ridge Hospital.
The health professional had described the minister’s lack of understanding of hospitals routines, making him come across and sounding like a farmer.
“The most disgusting and infuriating thing is the second point; the minister should know that there are systems over there. If he doesn’t understand, he should get somebody to educate him on the triage system. It is such that you can’t say because you are the first person to show up, you should be taken care of. When you come, we will triage you and establish if your ailment requires immediate care or delayed care as compared to others.
After assessing and we establish that your situation requires immediate care, they will attend to you immediately. If it requires that you are placed on standby for others to be cared for, not that they will neglect you, they will give you first aid or whatever, but they will attend to other people who need immediate attention. So, that statement does not make sense to me at all; it doesn’t make sense. Whoever wrote that statement doesn’t even understand the hospital system. Why? Is he a farmer? What kind of life is that?” he fumed.
He continued “What is even annoying is what the minister did. His statement runs contrary to his posture. You went there, and the same Ralph who had engaged in that act of hooliganism, you went there to embrace him. Look at the pictures on social media,” he stated in reference to the minister’s visit to Ridge on Tuesday following the incident.
He affectionately embraced the Ralph guy, somebody who has been fingered as the perpetrator of that heinous crime. He embraced him, and then the guy whispered into his ears, and he was smiling; whether it was a question or whatever, then he was smiling. How did the guy get to know that the minister had come there for him to rush there immediately?”.
His comments against the Minister were roundly condemned by many including sister health professional association, the Concerned Nurses and Midwifery Association of Ghana (CNMAG), in a statement said his utterances were unbecoming of a health professional.
A framer group, the Ghana National Association of Farmers and Fishermen (GNAFF) also waded in, demanding a retraction and apology within 24-hours.
“GNAFF hereby serves notice to David Tenkorang-Twum to within 24-hours, retract his unfortunate remarks and render an unqualified apology to all farmers and fishermen across Ghana. Anything short of this will compel GNAFF to consider the appropriate steps necessary to defend the dignity and integrity of our hardworking members”.
But speaking in a recent interview on Neat FM, Dr Tenkorang-Twum said the utterances of some broadcasters were unsavory and so they have marked them and “they will come and meet them at the hospital”.
When he realized his comments were dangerous and threatening, he quickly toned down saying “We need to prove to them that we are professionals, we will demonstrate to them that we are professional. We will not behave like they behaved on radio. They infuriated us”.
A journalist who shared the video said she feels threatened about the comments. She captioned the video “As a journalist, I don’t take this kindly at all. This is an attack on our profession. When you have issues, it’s this same journalist you call on. This man has threatened us just like that. Probably you should also know that the pen is mighty than the sword. I rest my case”.
In a similar interview on UTV earlier, the general secretary denied insulting the Minister only for him to make another controversial statement later on.
“My remarks were not made in a derogatory manner. I respect the Minister and was not referring to him”, he said.
By Gifty Boateng