Accra, May 13, GNA – Mr. Sidua Hor, Programme Officer, Alliance for Reproductive Health Right on Tuesday urged government to make quality health care accessible to all particularly the physical challenged. “The right to health means that government must generate conditions in which every one can be as healthy as possible. Such conditions range from ensuring availability of health services, healthy and safe working conditions”, he said.
Mr. Hor was speaking at a day’s seminar on the rights to health care organized by the Alliance in collaboration with the Ghana Federation of the Disabled for women with disabilities. Mr. Hor mentioned that poor roads, poor location of facilities and communication barrier, transportation and equipment for service delivery
were some of the key factors contributing to poor access to health care.
He said the Millennium Development Goals called for equal access to health care services which meant that government must put in place the basic requirement taken into consideration the physically challenged. He charged the women to show concern on issues affecting their health, be informed and articulate them to ensure that stakeholders were responsive to their plight. Mr. Charles Appiagyei, Senior Programme Officer, Action on Disability noted that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights called on every government to set up structures and run policies that were disability friendly. He said Article 25.1 of the declaration stated that “Everyone has
a right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, medical care and necessary social services and the right to security in the event of sickness, disability in circumstance beyond his control”. Mr Appiagyei said the disability policy of Ghana must also ensure access of persons with disability to effective health care and adequate medical rehabilitation services.
“The Ministry of Health in formulating health policies shall provide for free general and specialist medical care, rehabilitative operation treatment and appropriate assistive devices for persons with total disability” , disability Law section 31 to 35 has stated. He said the right to basic health care was innate and called on government to make life comfortable for them by providing facilities that were disability friendly at both public and private places. The women also called on government to employ the services of sign language interpreters at the various public offices particularly the health centres to enable them get the best of health care services. 13 May 08
