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CHRAJ says medical personnel have no right to go
on strike
Accra, Oct 21, Ghanadot/GNA - Despite constitutional guarantees
of the right to industrial action, workers in essential services
such as health professionals are not permitted by law to do so,
Mr Emile Francis Short, Commissioner for Human Rights and
Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), has said.
Speaking at a forum organized by the African Commission of
Health and Human Rights Promoters, Mr Short said whether the
action took the form of work-to-rule, a go-slow or a sit-down
strike, an industrial action by health professionals raised
ethical issues because of its potential impact on patients'
well-being.
It is in this direction that the country's labour laws
prohibited providers of essential service from resorting to
those means to press home demand for improved conditions of
service.
Mr Short stated this when he addressed the forum on the topic
"Health professionals rights to industrial action; Patients
rights to medical care, whose rights" in Accra.
He said international conventions and law appreciated medical
care as a right of the patient, which must be respected and
promoted.
He cited international treaties such as Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights,
World Health Organization provisions among others saying they
provided and guaranteed rights to all persons especially those
of patients to medical care no matter the circumstances.
He said based on those treaties and given that the job of health
professionals was basically to save lives, an assertion of their
rights to industrial action did not only constitute an
illegality but would also negatively affected the rights of
patients to medical care.
The CHRAJ Commissioner said the country also ratified the
International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights,
which guaranteed the right of everyone to the highest attainable
standard of physical and mental health.
He made reference to Article 30 of the 1992 Constitution saying
even persons by reason of sickness or any other cause were
unable to consent to medical treatment must not be denied of the
facility.
He said health professionals had always violated the law to
embark on industrial action.
Mr Short said foreseeing that grievances might emerge among
persons engaged in essential services, the Labour Act set out a
clear procedural mechanism to address such grievances.
He said all over the years, the issue of lack of willingness on
part of government to implement agreed principles or respect for
the laws by the health professionals had led to industrial
actions to the detriment of patients.
"While it should be the fundamental principle of health
professionals not to engage in any act, including industrial
actions, to the detriment of the patients' right to medical
care, it is extremely important for government to respect all
terms of agreement with health professionals" he said.
He said reneging on agreements by government to satisfy demands
of health professionals was equally detrimental to the right to
good living by the professionals.
Mr Short said health professionals had a critical role to play
in the promotion and realization of patients' rights to medical
care and called on government to commit to ensuring that health
professionals worked under satisfactory conditions including
adequate remunerations and facilities.
He also called on both parties to respect the Labour Laws and
abide by its rulings to ensure a harmonious industrial
atmosphere in the country.
GNA
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