Chairman of the Board of the Ghana Medical and Dental Council, Prof. Agyeman Badu Akosa says the growing number of medical negligence cases being referred to the Council is worrying.
Speaking at the 14th annual Ghana Association of Radiologists scientific meeting, he explained that the regulatory body is currently dealing with a backlog of cases that are still under active investigation.
“I think it is important that whether it is something that we didn’t think would happen, it is happening. The number of people who are sending cases to the Medical and Dental Council, it is worrying. We have so many cases backlogged that we’re having to investigate. Why should it be so?”
For him all this is as a result of health workers abandoning their primary responsibility.
He therefore urged all medical and health practitioners to demonstrate care towards patients when handling emergency cases.
“I think that it is better we all live to the expectations that we had when we were being interviewed into medical school. It is important that as public officials we recognize that you don’t work anonymously. You have knowledge and skill, use it and don’t hide under systems failure. If you can intervene, somebody’s had an injury, if you can pack the wound and set up an IV, do you need bed? Do you need systems to be able to do that?
He further admonished health workers to desist from working anonymously by wearing their name tags always and cultivating the habit of documenting all thoughts and processes.
