BUILDING PATIENT, DOCTOR RAPPORT

THE Ghana Medical and Dental Council has admonished the public to feel free to sue doctors for compensation for wrong diagnosis or other unprofessional conduct.
As reported in the Daily Graphic today, the registrar of the council noted that because the council did not pay compensation to victims of any mis-diagnosis or unprofessional conduct, the onus was on the victims to exact the due compensation from the offending doctors.
Indeed, this is a testimony of the commitment of the council to ensure that doctors exhibit the highest professional standards as required of their profession and this we should all warmly embrace.
All over the world medical and dental councils are beginning to introduce stringent measures to ensure that medical doctors exhibit a high level of professionalism.
The medical profession, like all others, has clear-cut ethical foundations that guide its practice. The International Code of Medical Ethics of the World Medical Association states that a doctor must always maintain the highest standards of professional conduct and must practise his profession uninfluenced by motives of profit.
Indeed, in many developed countries medico-legal issues have been greatly highlighted to ensure that patients become very much aware of their rights regarding their relationship with their doctors and the treatment offered to them.
For instance, while in the case of a journalist or a media organisation a breach may require the issuing of a rejoinder with due prominence to correct a misrepresentation, in the case of medicine there could never be any remedial measure that can bring back life or correct a deformity. Indeed, doctors’ mistakes are buried, even if families of the victims take up the issue for redress.
On many occasions we have been confronted with credible reports of medical professionals, and in this case medical doctors, shirking their responsibility at a point when it is needed most. In some cases such a conduct has resulted in the death of patients.
In the past, while there had been hue and cry over such professional misconduct, victims were more often than not compelled to let matters rest in the spirit of the typical Ghanaian attitude of “Fama Nyame”, to wit, leave it to God.
But the advice by the council should mark the beginning of a new dawn and challenge doctors to endeavour to observe high professional standards and live above reproach.
The Citizens Charter which was recently launched also places premium on good customer care for people who patronise public services.
The country’s healthcare system has undergone positive transformation with the introduction of the National Health Insurance Scheme. With the introduction of the scheme, a lot more Ghanaians are likely to patronise public health institutions and they would expect nothing but quality healthcare delivery.
The DAILY GRAPHIC believes that the courts are competent enough to decide whether or not victims of medical mis-diagnosis or unprofessional conduct on the part of doctors deserve to be compensated, as well as the quantum of compensation that should be paid to them.
We also wish to challenge the Ghana Medical Association, the Ministry of Health, the Ghana Health Service and other stakeholders to endeavour to provide regular professional training for doctors to ensure that they are abreast of modern trends in their profession.
The responsibility of ensuring quality healthcare delivery is one that goes beyond just the medical doctor or professional and requires that all relevant stakeholders play their roles more effectively.