By Isaac A to MENSAH
Accra- 9 November, 2018.
Dr Francis Ibrahim-Betonsi, let us call him FBI, is newsworthy for his resilience.
After he’s spent six years of suffering in limbo, the Ghana Health Service has this week started restoring him to the status quo ante; to his schedule as medical officer; it is not a promotion.
‘The general practitioner…was victimised and falsely accused of a mental illness by some superiors and subjected to four psychiatric assessments all of which saw him cleared as normal, reported ghanaweb.com on 7 November, 2018.
‘When he refused to submit himself for yet another psychiatric examination, he was subtly dismissed from the [Ghana Health] Service through indefinite suspension.’
We congratulate Starr 103.5FM of Accra, Amnesty International, all men and women of good will, and especially Alfred Afiiwo Kujatera his friend, who drew public attention to FBI’s plight.
It is tragic that there are many such disheartening cases in our midst; if only we will care to ask about them.
But do we bother to get involved?
Or do we cloak ourselves in neutrality that only serves to the advantage of the oppressors and sometimes even emboldens them.
This is a case of medical doctors versus medical doctors; one group of doctors says FBI has a mental illness, another says no.
It is only the intellectually lazy who will say, ‘There is no smoke without fire’ and leave it at that.
It is only the bone head or irreligious who will say, ‘The majority must be right’.
FBI is everywhere…there are persons who’ve been declared innocent after they’d spent 40 years in jail; after new technology became available…or after their death!
What about if a later classification of mental illness finds FBI’s accusers justified?
What about the patients he treated before he was thought to have a mental illness?
What about the patients now waiting to see him?
What about the lack of resolution to the as-yet unresolved matter, namely that he has a mental illness and that a fifth opinion is needed?
There are many more serious questions.
But let us proceed with caution while remembering another mantra of my mentor, ‘The scientific method is a way of life’.
We are “lion-like” when we act unjustly or speak injustice into the lives of people in the face of facts, empirical evidence and reason; we are “fox-like” when we keep silent and refuse to speak “with candour” to the lions of injustice.
To say that the reinstatement of FBI shows that the system works is to be disingenuous and frankly cynical and patronizing.
No self respecting and mature person should proffer such an explanation in the face of the cruel victimisation suffered by FBI.
The words of Mark Twain keep ringing in my ears, ‘A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes’.
To all who spoke up, sent messages and supported Starr 103.5FM of Accra which also brought in Amnesty International Ghana, we say, ‘Ayekoo, well done’.
You have fought ‘wickedness in high places’; you have done the ‘Holy will of God’ (Holy Bible – Ephesians 6:12; Philippians 2:12-16).
And may The I Am That I Am, The Almighty Allah, Master of the Day of Judgment, richly bless you.
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