Hospitals Are Not Boxing Rings, So Attack on Hospital Workers Must Be Stopped

A health facility is a place where the sick and others in need receive healthcare and it is equally visited by others for enquiries and other reasons. Emphatically, therefore, the hospital or health facility is not a boxing ring. It is rather unfortunate that it is becoming the order of the day that the very people who go to the hospital for care or their relatives who accompany them to the hospital do physically attack the frontline health workers and even unarmed hospital security staff.

In contemporary times, the general public is quick to judge the hospital workers anytime members of the public are presumably not treated well. Paradoxically, the same general public keeps mute when boisterous members of the public physically attack hospital workers on duty.

No civilized nation attacks its health workers on duty. If the south African xenophobic attacks on Ghanaians and other African nationals is worthy of condemnation and swift action against it by Government and other stakeholders, physical attacks on frontline health workers on duty must equally be condemned and the perpetrators brought to book.

International law explicitly prohibits attacks on medical personnel and medical transports displaying the recognized emblems (Red Cross, Red Crescent, or Red Crystal). Specifically, the 1949 Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols form the foundation of international humanitarian law that explicitly protect clinical staff including but not limited to Red Cross workers who are classified as non-combatants. They must be respected and protected at all times, provided they do not take a direct part in hostilities.

Whereas Article 37 (3) of Ghana’s 1992 Constitution provides inter alia that the State shall be guided by international human rights instruments which recognize and apply particular categories of basic human rights to development processes, Section 69 of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29) states that “A person who intentionally and unlawfully causes harm to any other person commits a second-degree felony. The case of Nimolgu & Ors v. The Republic [1980] GLR 714 clarifies that a charge of causing harm under Section 69 of Act 29 can stand independently, even if the prosecution could have also chosen to charge the accused with using an offensive weapon during the same event. Section 76 of Act 29 defines unlawful harm as harm which is intentionally or negligently caused without lawful justifications e.g. express authority given by enactments.

Articles 12 to 33 (Chapter Five) of the 1992 Constitution also provide for the protection of human rights and provides various remedies for same when human rights are abused. The Constitution, 1992 is instructive in Article 12(2) that every person (including but not limited to the health worker) in Ghana, whatever his race, place of origin, political opinion, colour, religion, creed or gender shall be entitled to the fundamental human rights and freedoms of the individual contained in Chapter Five of the Constitution but subject to respect for the rights and freedoms of others and for the public interest.

One may thus say on constitutional authority with a complete margin of certainty that much as patients and their relatives are entitled to human rights during treatment in our health facilities, such rights are subject to the rights and freedoms of the health workers providing care. Accordingly, the public must condemn such unlawful attacks on health workers and the authorities must enforce the constitutional and statutory substantive provisions to protect the health worker.

The Patient Charter which is enshrined in Schedule 6 of the Public Health Act, 2012 (Act 851) provides inter alia that it is the responsibility of the patient to respect the rights of other patients or clients and Health Service Personnel.

It is evident from the foregoing that various enactments (international and municipal law) prohibit patients from causing unlawful harm to health workers. It is, therefore, gratifying to note that the courts swiftly intervened in the recent case of unlawful physical harm caused to a Midwife at Tema Community 22 Polyclinic by one Desmond Bosomtwe. The Court convicted Desmond and fined him 100 penalty units (GHȻ12,000.00) and to also pay a GHȻ5,000.00 compensation to the victim (Priscilla Addo). Whereas Desmond also signed a bond of good behavior, the Court barred him from entering that health facility for the next 12 months effective June 9, 2026.

However, the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA) opined that the punishment given to Desmond Bosemtwe was not retributive enough. Regardless of how mild the punishment may seem to the GRNMA, I submit that the punishment is a signal to members of the public that the health worker is not a punch bag and the health facility is not a boxing ring. The law will deal with anyone who unlawfully harms a health worker.

It is unfortunate that the same people who go to our hospitals for service delivery and claim that they are not satisfied with the service and their revenge is to beat the doctor, nurse or other health workers giving care equally spend more hours at the police station, passport offices, airports etc. yet they do not dare beat those workers and the reason is the obviously tight and armed security at those places.

In 2006 thereabout, I would have been lynched by clients at the hospital mortuary but for the intervention of a bystander (a private security guard). The unfortunate incident was due to my attempt to resolve a misunderstanding between a mortuary attendant and the attacking bereaved family. This matter was later resolved amicably but I was nearly killed for it. This is how harmful some members of the public visiting our hospitals can be.

The incessant condemnation of and physical attack on the health worker who serves under numerous constraints must be stopped. The health worker equally has a family and upon the strength of the Public Health Act, 2012 (851), the healthcare provider has rights too.

It is worth a reminder to the general public that unlawful harm is punishable under the laws of Ghana. The prosecution aside, a health worker who is physically attacked can also bring a civil action against their attackers and/or their employers for various remedies available in law.

Advisedly, therefore, our health workers must not be seen or treated as sacrificial lambs being led to the slaughter house of a sacred deity. The health workers go through numerous trying moments in giving care to others. That aside, they are equally magnanimous, often contributing money from their meagre salaries to care for needy but neglected patients at the OPDs and on the wards. Let us respect, protect and show some love to the Ghanaian health worker especially those at the frontlines 24/7.

It is worth reiterating in conclusion that health workers equally have human rights and they are not punch bags for healthcare seekers. After all, the 1992 Constitution is emphatic in its Article 12 (1) that “the fundamental human rights and freedoms …shall be respected and upheld by the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary and all other organs of government and its agencies and, where applicable to them, by all natural and legal persons in Ghana, and shall be enforceable by the Courts as provided for in this Constitution”. Attack on health workers is primitive and unlawful. It must be stopped.

~Asante Sana~
Philip Afeti Korto (Philipo)
Hospital Administrator
[email protected]