Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyemang-Manu has raised concerns regarding recent cases of health professionals getting sued for alleged poor service they render, and medical negligence at some hospitals in Ghana.
The Minister who was addressing some leaders of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) in Kumasi said in recent weeks, they have received letters from Attorney General’s office of people suing some health professionals over poor service and medical malpractices.
“What I’m seeing of late in the ministry for the past four weeks or so, almost every week, we get at least one letter from the Attorney General’s office.
Somebody has sued, somebody has problems with care, service delivery and they want us to come with information for them to go to court with.
But I have been with you for the past six years. Earlier when I came in, those things were not happening that much but it has become very common.
“Is it deliberate efforts to get somebody to take us to court, or you have forgotten what you were trained to do in a more efficient manner,” he asked.
He pleaded with the health practitioners not to extort the poor patients who come to their hospitals.
“I ask myself if I were a doctor sitting in a facility and somebody comes who hasn’t got money, and that person should be treated else he or she dies, what do i do as a doctor,” he asked
“I know what you go through but you begin to think of them as well.
So my plea is that health insurance delays payments, why should we extort from the poor patients.”
