Kumasi — Political leaders in Ghana, both past and present, have come under intense criticisms for failing to provide the necessary resources that will adequately enhance the quality of healthcare in the country over the years.

They have been chastised for paying lip service to ensuring quality health infrastructure, for which reason, most of them resort to foreign medical services anytime they have health concerns.

The Executive Secretary of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA), Dr. Frank Serebour, contends that the phenomenon was a serious indictment on the integrity of the political leadership of this country.

Dr. Serebour, who was contributing to a discussion on the practice of political leaders frequently travelling abroad for medical attention, said he was saddened by the development, stressing that it exposed the double standards attitude of Ghanaian politicians.

His comments come in the wake of the recent visit by the President of Ghana, His Excellency John Evans Atta Mills, to the United States for a medical checkup, which has attracted media discussions.

The Executive Secretary of the GMA observed with regret that though there were competent medical personnel in the country, who are capable of matching their colleagues elsewhere abroad, political leaders prefer the latter, knowing very well that they had failed to adequately resource public health institutions in the country.

"Let me tell you frankly that most of these diseases that send our politicians abroad can be taken care of easily in Ghana, but our politicians, because of their guilty conscience, are scared of visiting local hospitals," Dr. Serebour observed.

According to him, it was about time leaders of this country developed trust in the local medical system, so that they can adequately appreciate the enormity of the health challenges confronting the country.

He noted that patronising local medical facilities was the only way our leaders would be adequately informed about the infrastructural and logistical challenges, so that measures can be adopted to find solutions to them.