INQUEST INTO PRESIDENT MILLS' DEATH

The Ghana Medical Association (GMA) has appealed to President John Dramani Mahama to order a Presidential inquest into the cause of death of President John Evans Atta Mills, who died on July 24. According to the GMA, the outcome of the investigation will help shape policies on the medical management of “our political leaders such as Presidents and other dignitaries.” Various groups and individual have called for an investigation into the death of the President Mills with others requesting for an autopsy report on the actual cause of his death. According to President of the GMA, Dr. Kwabena Opoku Adusei, the appeal is also to put to rest speculations surrounding the events which occurred before the demise of the President.  He said: “We requested that because there have been so many rumours about how the President was taken ill on the morning of the 24th of July, how he got to 37 [Military Hospital] and so many others. We need to know as a medical association so that if there are any lapses it will help us inform policies so that we can do things better and to also tell Ghanaians the medical cause of death to abate the rumours.” Dr. Opoku Adusei, however, clarified that the GMA has no intention to offend the sensitivity of the family of the late President, but their call is in the best interest of Ghana as President Mills was the leader of the country for three-and-a-half years before his demise. “Is the President of the Republic under the whims and caprices of the immediate family, the wife or even the children? From the time that he fell sick to the time that he died, it was for the state and the state took care of everything,” the medical doctor said.
He added that “that is why after retirement, the State takes care of the President till he dies. The President is not an ordinary person. The President is an asset for everybody so we must draw the line properly.”

The Ghana Medical Association President, Kwabena Opoku Adusei told Kapital News the inquiry will provide valuable insight that could help avert similar occurrence in the future.
“There has been so many stories about how the president of the Republic of Ghana died. Either he died in the office, on the way to the hospital or at the hospital. We are appealing to the sitting president now to let us know whether there was a systemic failure so that we can improve on the system for the future,” he said.
He said the stories surrounding the death of the late president were contradictory, insisting an inquest into the death of the death of the president is needed.