Problems in health delivery, right to health

Not very long ago, as part of our series on the scope and extent of some economic and social rights, we explored the right to health as obtained in International Human Rights Law. 

It was established that while the phrase ‘right to health’ is misleading, as no one has an absolute right to health, what the right entails in its proper sense is the right to the highest attainable standard of health. Just like all other rights, the right to health has components and obligations that attach to states.

A personal tragedy which has befallen ‘yours truly’, graphically exposing the hollowness of the right to health as it operates in Ghana, is the inspiration for this week’s article.

My cousin, brother and best friend, Francis Kojo Baffour-Ussher, died last Thursday in the most tragic circumstances, laying bare the inadequacies of our health system.

Since his untimely and preventable death, our family has been receiving a catalogue of unbelievable stories of how the health system has failed several people. Now the sad story of his avoidable death….

On the night of August 8, while at home relaxing with his wife and playing a game of Ludo, Buf T, as he was affectionately called, started experiencing breathing problems.

In the middle of the night, as my cousin struggled to breathe, his wife rushed him to the hospital, seeking urgent medical attention that she hoped would save his life.

Upon arrival, her husband was in desperate need of oxygen—an essential, life-saving resource that any hospital should have readily available. To her utter disbelief and horror, the hospital informed her that they had no oxygen available.

Even more distressing was the response when she, in a frantic plea to save her husband, requested a nebulizer to help ease his breathing.

The hospital staff responded with a shocking admission: they did not know where the nebulizer was. This was not just a failure of logistics or resource management; it was a failure of compassion and basic human decency.

My cousin’s life was cut short not by an incurable illness, but by the inexcusable shortcomings of a health facility that is meant to serve and protect the lives of its patients.

This incident is not just about the tragic loss of my cousin; it is a reflection of a broader, deeply troubling issue within our healthcare system.

Too many local clinics and hospitals are failing to meet even the most basic standards of care, showing a complete disregard for the sanctity of human life.

Obligations

One of the obligations of states in complying with the right to health is the creation of conditions which would assure medical service and medical attention to all in the event of sickness.

Further, in General Comment 14, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights specified that the right to health involves the following elements and state obligations: Availability, Accessibility, Acceptability and Quality.

It is clear the health service woefully failed to live up to these features of the right to health in Buf’s death.

Investigation

In Ghana, the Health Institutions and Facilities Act established the Health Facilities Regulatory Agency (HeFRA), whose duty is to license facilities for the provision of public and private healthcare services.

 They are to license and monitor facilities for the provision of public and private health services. How come a medical facility in Ghana will not have an operational service to provide oxygen? Who is doing the monitoring?

The family of Buf T and Ghanaians at large demand a thorough investigation into the surrounding circumstances leading to his untimely and avoidable death.

We demand accountability for this tragedy—not only for our family but for all the families who have suffered similar losses due to negligence and indifference in our healthcare institutions.

We call upon the authorities to investigate this incident thoroughly and to take immediate, decisive action to ensure that no other family has to endure the pain and suffering we are experiencing now.

Prioritise

We also urge the government and health authorities to prioritise the overhaul of our healthcare system, ensuring that hospitals and clinics are equipped with the necessary resources and that staff are trained to respond with the empathy and urgency that every patient deserves.

Solutions and adequate compensation – even though this will not bring him back – must be paid, or else litigation on medical negligence will follow. My cousin deserved better. Every Ghanaian deserves better. Lives depend on it. 

The writer is a lawyer.
E-mail: georgebshaw1@gmail.com