Respect for patients’ rights in health facilities: experiences of patients during the early period of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana

• Date: 11 July 2022
• Pages: 483-498
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJHRH-12-2021-0207
• Published date: 11 July 2022
• Subject Matter: Health & social care,Vulnerable groups,Inequalities & diverse/minority groups,Sociology,Race & ethnic studies,Minorities,Multiculturalism,Racial identity,Work,economy & organizations
• Author: Harrison Kwame Golo

Respect for patients’rights in health

facilities: experiences of patients during

the early period of the COVID-19

pandemic in Ghana

Harrison Kwame Golo

Abstract

Purpose –This paper aims to identifyhuman rights violations of patients during the early periodsof the

COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana by investigating the experiences of people on how health-care

professionalsdischarged their responsibilitiesduring the time in question.

Design/methodology/approach –Explanatory design of the mixed methodsapproach was adopted,

with the intentionof collecting both quantitative andqualitative data sequentially, andthen integrating the

results at the interpretation stage. The approach enriched the quality of data collected as it offered the

advantage of shedding light on the primary motivations and reasons for attitudes and behaviours and

helped to provide an in-depth understanding of how individuals interpret the happenings around them

and their experiences. Thus, although some amount of quantitative method was used in the data

collection,the core of this paper is based on the qualitativeinterpretations.

Findings –The study reveals that health-care professionals, especially those in the Tema Metropolis,

undermined certain fundamental human rights of patients during the early period of the COVID-19

pandemic. This includes failureto provide information to patients about treatment options andpotential

risks of medications; failure to seek the informed consent of patients before performing medical

procedures; denial of access to medical files of patients for transfer; and inability or failure to provide

medicalambulances services to patients on time.

Originality/value –Although many publications on human rights dimensions and health protective

issues on COVID-19 pandemic are available on a global scale, still little information pertaining to

experiences of individuals with health-care professionals during the early days of the COVID-19

pandemic, especially in Ghana through the lens of patient’s rights exists.This paper, therefore, fills an

important gap in health-care management information, critical for policy decision-making processes

regardingpatient’s rights in times of pandemic control.

Keywords Ghana, Emergencies, Patients, Human rights, Health-care professionals

Paper type Research paper

Introduction

It is widely accepted in law and government policy that all human rights are equal,

interconnected and interdependent, and right to health constitutes one of the basic human

rights that impacts all aspects of human life. As a consequent, Article 25 of the Universal

Declaration on Human Rights states that “everyone has the right to a standard of living

adequate for the health and well-being of themselves and their family, including medical

care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment,

sickness, disability, widowhood and old age”. Health, as a fundamental human right, found

in Article 12 of the International Covenanton Economic, Social and Cultural Right (ICESCR),

Harrison Kwame Golo is

based at Centre for

Conflict, Human Rights and

Peace Studies, University

of Education Winneba,

Winneba, Ghana.

Received 14 December 2021

Revised 10 March 2022

1 June 2022

Accepted 18 June 2022

DOI 10.1108/IJHRH-12-2021-0207 VOL. 16 NO. 5 2023, pp. 483-498, ©Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 2056-4902 jINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN HEALTHCARE jPAGE 483

is reiterated in the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Constitution, which states that the

enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of

every human being (World Health Organization, 2010). This has increased a global

recognition of the human right to health and health care, as almost every country in the

world has become a party to at least one human rights treaty or equivalent international

instrument that addresses health and health-care-related rights in the past two decades

(World Health Organization, 2013). As such, several countries have moved further to

incorporate their international human rights obligations relevant to health into their domestic

legal and policy frameworks andhave raised it to a higher status by enshrining them in their

national constitution.

In line with this development is the chairs of ten UN human rights treaty bodies’ call for a

human rights approach in fighting the CoronavirusDisease 2019 (COVID-19), which has put

the health systems under severe strain,resulting in alarming numbers of deaths and serious

illness (Institute for Human Rights and Business, 2020). The chairs further emphasized

governments’ protection of the rights to life and health by ensuring access to health care to

everyone who needs it, without discrimination (Institute for Human Rights and Business,

2020). This particular call is also echoed in the UN human rights experts’ joint call, which

underscored the fact that “everyone has the right to life saving interventions”, as such the

COVID-19 crisis cannot be solved with public health and emergency measures without

addressing all other humanrights (Institute for Human Rights and Business, 2020).

Literature has shown that, for effective implementation of right to health, the concept of

patients’ rights had emerged to complement the concept of human rights and their

reflection in medicine (Bornstein and Pittman, 2002). As a consequent, patients’ rights

appeared as a significant agenda item in the last quarter of the 20th century and has

assumed a legal dimension with the “Patient RightsRegulation” published in Turkey in 1998

and other Western European nations in the middle of 2001 (Gu

¨vercin and Arda, 2010). The

rights of patients have since become a very important concern in health care as there is a

widespread agreement about the need to strengthen and protect the rights of patients in

their interactions with health professionals as well as to help patients take a more active role

in health care (Harris, 2001). This development has led to many declarations defining the

importance of rights and responsibilities in the provision of health care (O

¨zdemir et al.,

2009). In this context, the protection of patients’ rights has become a focal point on the

agenda of many national and international organizations; and as part of national legislation

(Merakou et al.,2001) to ensure the safety of patients.

Many countries, for instance, have developed charters with provisions to respect the

interest of patients. One good example is the Consumer Bills of Right of 1998, which

emphasises quality and better health care for all Americans. Similar charters have been

developed in other regions and countries, such as South Africa, New Zealand, the UK,

Australia, the USA, Norway and Hong Kong and the EuropeanUnion (Yarney et al., 2016).

However, laws and regulationsprotecting the rights of patients exhibit some variation due to

country-specific characteristics (Owusu, 2007).

Research has shown that the rapid spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, which necessitated

decisions and adoption of appropriate control measures impose pressure on hospitals and

health-care centres, with various consequences on patient’srights in some countries during

the period of the pandemic (Adeli et al.,2020). The most effective way for health-care

professionals to fulfil their obligations under the “right to health” approach is to ensure that

they provide the highest possible standard of care while respecting the fundamental dignity

of each patient (Mohammed et al., 2015). As pointed out by Kloiber (2016), protecting

patient rights requires doctors to havenecessary professional autonomy that allows them to

put their patients first. In this context, patients have the rightto be treated and dealt with in a

humane and respectful manner (Daher, 2015, p. 1). Patients’ rights, as a consequent, have

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