|
Family forced to pay bribe for
anti-corruption official's hospital bed at Korle Bu
Accra, Dec. 6, Ghanadot/GNA – An anti-corruption official at
the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ)
on Thursday stunned participants at a function on Human
Rights Week when he disclosed that his family succumbed to
pressure and manoeuvring at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital
and paid a bribe of 30 GH cedis (300,000.00 cedis) to obtain
a bed for him.
Speaking on "Patient Expectation of Health Services," at the
on-going Human Rights week being organised by CHRAJ, Mr
Charles Anyamdo told the hushed audience that his wife and
brother paid the bribe for him to be attended to at the
government Hospital.
"The nurses at Korle Bu alleged that there was no bed, but
if I offered ‘something’, they would try and get me one. I
refused but my wife and brother could not bear the
frustration and as a result of the pains I was going
through, they went ahead and paid. I was immediately offered
a VVIP bed," Mr Anyamdo stated to expose the level of
corruption at health centres.
The Human Rights Week is on the general theme: "Human Rights
and Social Justice in Ghana@50: Have we come of Age?" It is
a period dedicated to the celebration of freedom and
justice, and the nation's aspiration to create those
conditions that most contribute to human flourishing.
Mr Anyamdo said he also served on a Committee of Enquiry
set-up by the Ministry of Health to investigate the
disappearance of a baby at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.
He said the investigation established falsehood and
fabrication of facts by nurses at the maternity department
of the Hospital and mortuary attendants.
He said the Committee, among other recommendations, said the
mortuary attendants should be prosecuted and nurses at the
Maternity Department transferred. The hospital was asked to
provide the baby, dead or alive, and a mortuary refrigerator
at the Maternity Department.
Mr Anyamdo also narrated a horrifying case that CHRAJ
investigated at Tema General Hospital where the carelessness
of the medical staff - nurses and doctors - led to the death
of a pregnant woman and the baby.
The investigations established enough grounds for
prosecution and the Court awarded 48 million cedis damages
against the Hospital.
Speaking on; "How to Make Healthcare Accessible to All," Mr
Richard Quayson, a Deputy CHRAJ Commissioner, said access to
safe and potable water, adequate sanitation, hygienic
conditions of living and clean environment were enshrined
under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the
International Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights.
Other rights are access to health-related education and
information, including education on sexual and reproductive
health and access to good medical care and attention.
Mr Quayson explained that every individual - woman, man,
youth or child - therefore had the human right to the
highest attainable standard of physical and mental health,
without discrimination of any kind.
"Enjoyment of the human right to health is vital to all
aspects of a person's life and well-being, and it is crucial
to the realization of many other fundamental human rights
and freedoms."
He said it was obligatory for every state to respect,
protect and fulfil health rights of its citizenry.
It requires countries to make efforts to minimize risk to
health and take all necessary measures to prevent third
parties from infringing on citizens’ health rights, provide
relevant services to enable individuals and communities to
enjoy the right to health and refrain from undertaking
actions that inhibit or interfere with peoples’ ability to
enjoy the right to health.
GNA
|
