“We’re talking about lives here.”

That was the impassioned plea from Prof Titus Beyuo, Board Chairman of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, as he defended the decision to treat the Ghana Medical Trust Fund bill as a matter of urgency in Parliament.

Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express on Tuesday, July 29, the Lambussie MP said lives were literally hanging in the balance, so passing what is also called the MahamaCares bill was the way to go.

“If providing health care for people who need dialysis, who need some cancer care, who are in some critical stage is not urgent, I don’t know what else is urgent.”

For Prof Beyuo, the matter is beyond debate. The need for immediate support to vulnerable patients cannot be postponed.

“No life can wait,” he stressed, justifying the urgency clause that saw the House fast-track the bill’s consideration.

The medical doctor insisted the House was right to act swiftly, because “there is no time.”

He reminded Ghanaians of the words of a former president, Nana Akufo-Add,o who said during the Covid-19 pandemic that: “They can revive the economy, but they cannot bring back lives.”

For him, those words capture the gravity of the moment.

“There’s no better way to emphasise the urgency of this.”

The emotional weight of the situation was clear as he reflected on the suffering of real people.

“For those people suffering today, they wish this had been passed yesterday.”

To him, the delay already feels like a betrayal of those in need.

“For someone who is on social media appealing for fun today, for a constituent who is looking for money today, they wish this had been passed a month ago,” he said. “So there’s no time to waste.”