Patient’s Charter allows patients to sue hospitals for poor facilities-Advocacy Group reveals

Executive Secretary for the Advocacy for Medical Malpractice Victims, Kwame Brobbey Appiah, has reasoned that patients can take hospitals on for poor or lack of facilities in their institution.
According to him, per the dictates of the Patient’s Charter made available by the Ghana Health Service, all medical institutions are to ensure that the patient’s “right to quality basic health care irrespective of his/her geographical location” is realized. Hence depriving the patient of medical facilities is tantamount to denying the patient of their rights.
He made this known during an interview with Samuel Eshun on e.TV Ghana’s Fact Sheet show.
“When you delve into the issue of medical malpractice there is the other half that we call institutional negligence or institutional systematic failure. What it means is that if the institution has the independent responsibility to ensure that the facility gives the best and safe method of providing healthcare and they deviate from that duty, then every patient has the right to take them on, because once you are able to establish that relationship with the medical facility, your expectation is to be served the right way. So, if that is not done, you have a right in law to also pursue”, he explained.
The Patient’s Charter is made to protect the rights of the patient in the Ghana Health Service. It addresses the Right of the individual to easily accessible, equitable and comprehensive health care of the highest quality within the resources of the country. It also includes the responsibility of the patient.
Among the many rights listed in the charter, the document states that “the patient has the right to quality basic health care irrespective of his/her geographical location”.
By: Alberta Dorcas N D Armah