Enact a healthcare law to tackle medical negligence in the country – Lecturer
Medical negligence is one of the issues that are often not really tackled to the core in Ghana with the exception of a few cases where a family that wants closure on a matter seeks legal redress and perpetrators are dealt with accordingly.
It is this situation that has caused a senior law lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST ), Dr Ernest Owusu-Dapaah to call on the government to set up a commission of enquiry to help victims of such situations seek redress.
Dr Owusu Dapaah stressed the need for healthcare law and a state policy to help victims of such situations get justice and there are so many instances of medical negligence but only a few manage to get to the media.
A typical example is the case of a former USA army medic, Mr Emmanuel Asare-Kumah who is currently in a legal tussle with the 37 Military Hospital over the death of his brother due to a brain tumour that the facility allegedly charged him for a surgery that never took place.
According to Mr Asare-Kumah, the surgery was postponed more than once leading to his brother’s death and he further alleged that they were also not allowed to see his brother’s remains at the morgue.
The military had begun a probe into the case but nothing concrete has happened since he filled the complaint according to him.
These are some of the few cases of unfortunate incidents of medical negligence that have come up hence Mr Owusu-Dapaah’s push for a health care law to curb such incidents in the future.
By: Stella Annan | myactiveonline.com Twitter @activetvgh
