Minister of Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, has responded to criticism over a viral video that captured him shaking hands with Ralph Saint William, the social media activist, accused of assaulting a nurse at the Greater Accra Regional Hospital popularly known as Ridge Hospital.
The footage, which circulated shortly after the minister's engagement with hospital authorities, sparked debate on multiple platforms; with some commentators suggesting that the gesture by Akandoh purportedly endorsed the suspect's (Ralph Williams) assault on the nurse.
Addressing journalists on Thursday, August 21, 2025, Mintah Akandoh, clarified that his handshake was not an endorsement of the alleged attack but rather a show of courtesy expected of someone in public office. "After we finished the meeting with the hospital management, I put together a committee to investigate the matter in question.
So, after that meeting, we came outside, and my attention was drawn to a gentleman, who, I was told was at the centre of the controversy. "So, on approaching me, I asked, 'Why did you do what you did?' When I asked, the gentleman stretched his hand, and extended a handshake to me, and attempted to whisper something into my ear.
