The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) has urged health workers in the country to endeavour to regard and comply with the Patient Charter, as they provide medical care.
The Patient Charter of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) preserves the fundamental human rights and dignity of patients in accessing safe, quality care, right to information and fair treatment.
Mr Eric Adu, a legal practitioner and the Ahafo Regional Director of the NCCE who gave the advice, reminded health workers that disregard for the charter could not only harm patients, but also violate their rights.
He said with the charter, every Ghanaian had the right in accessing safe and quality healthcare, devoid of discriminatory, saying that: “Hiding mistakes violates these rights”.
Mr Adu was speaking at an engagement meeting with the students of the Goaso Nursing and Midwifery Training College, on accountability, integrity and patients’ rights organised by the NCCE at Goaso, the regional capital.
The event, dubbed “Civic Engagement on the Rule of Law and the Fight against Corruption,” forms part of the Participation, Accountability, and Integrity for a Resilient Democracy (PAIRED) project being implemented by the NCCE.
It is supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the European Union, the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).
Mr Adu reminded them that as students they were not just learning skills, but forming habits that would define their entire professional life, saying that: “The kind of nurse or midwife you become is shaped now, in your daily choices, your honesty, your sense of responsibility, and your commitment to fairness.”
He stressed that integrity remained integral in healthcare care delivery, justifying that: “A nurse with integrity protects life even in silence and those without integrity puts life at risk and this is why character matters just as much as competence.”
Mr Adu said that: “In healthcare people don’t just trust nurses because they are trained, but they do so because they believe they will do the right thing at the right time. In fact, trust is powerful and also fragile.”
He observed that a nurse could be highly knowledgeable, but still be dangerous if they lacked integrity, saying that: “That’s is why in healthcare, integrity isn’t optional.”
Mr Adu emphasised that accountability, integrity and fairness in decision making remained the key values that defined not just good students, but safe and trustworthy professionals.
He reminded the students and health workers that violation of patients’ rights to equal and non-discriminatory care was not only unfair, but could land them in trouble, saying that “fairness isn’t a choice in healthcare, but a duty.”
Mr Adu also cautioned the students against examination malpractices and using their “connections” or powerful people to gain unfair advantage, pass their exams, or secure opportunities they did not earn.
“While this may seem beneficial in the short term, it has dangerous consequences in healthcare,” he stated, and added that patients had a right to competent and ethical professionals.
Mr Adu said that: “When merit is replaced with influence, lives are endangered.”
Miss Adwoa Serwaa Tawiah, the Dean of Students of the College expressed appreciation to the NCCE, describing the engagement as insightful and beneficial, urging the commission to expedite action for the establishment of a Civic Education Club in the college.
She advised the students to exhibit the core values of values of integrity and accountability saying that those principles were critical as they prepare to assume their future roles as professional nurses and midwives.