The Health Services Workers Union (HSWU), and Ghana Association of Public Health Technical Officers (GAPHTO), has presented a $10,000 cheque to a public health officer, Solomon Ohene Gyabaah, who has become physically challenge and suffered severe complications for 14 years following an accident during a polio immunisation campaign in Lower Manya Krobo Municipality of the Eastern region.
Mr. Solomon Gyabaah, 46, who works with the Lower Manya Krobo Health Directorate, sustained a serious injury to his left femur on March 22, 2012, while on official supervision duties during a National Immunisation Day polio campaign.
According to him, his femur broke into several pieces, resulting in multiple surgeries and years of persistent pain.
“In these 14 and a half years, there’s no other day that I wouldn’t take a painkiller. There is pain every day,” he said.
He disclosed that he had personally financed several surgeries, medications and other medical expenses, often relying on loans and financial assistance from friends and colleagues.
“The surgeries, the drugs, everything I was paying for them. I had to solicit for funds from friends and colleagues,” he said.
He expressed concern that despite sustaining the injury in the line of duty, he had not received workers’ compensation for more than 14 years.
“Workman compensation, I’ve not been paid any workman compensation for 14 and a half years now,” Mr. Gyabaah said.
The injury has also affected his family and social life. Solomon says the physical complications have affected his ability to have another child to his only 14 year of child.
“My condition has affected my relationship in the aspect of even giving birth. Because I can’t do the needful to get another child. Had it not been that I’ve had a child before this accident, I wouldn’t know what would happen. It’s a disturbing thing going to pick somebody’s daughter and this thing just happened to you within two years of marriage. The unfortunate thing is that the car was not insured. So, no insurance for me”. Solomom emotionally said.
Mr. Gyabaah said despite his condition, he continued working to support his family and contribute to public health programmes.
“There’s pain every day… I wouldn’t want to bother my family so much. So, even in pain, I still go to work. But these 14 and a half years. I go to work all the time. If I am in the house there is pain, if I go to the office, there is pain. So, for me to stay in the house and my family will be emotionally down, I need to go to the office at least to do work. So, if I go to the office and work and there is pain, then I associate the pains to the work I went in. It hasn’t been easy at all”.
The General Secretary of the Health Services Workers Union, Franklin Owusu Ansah, said the donation was a demonstration of solidarity with a colleague whose condition had received inadequate institutional support.
He called on government, as the employer, to assume responsibility for the remaining medical expenses.
“Whatever we are giving today, we want the employer to come in and take up the rest and pay everything that he needs so that our brother can be well and get back to do his normal duties,” he said.
Mr. Owusu Ansah also warned that the welfare of health workers must not be neglected, arguing that hundreds or even thousands of workers could be facing similar challenges.
“We want the healthcare worker to be taken care of,” he stressed.
The Vice Chairperson of the Welfare Committee of GAPHTO, Prosper Amegadzie, described Mr. Gyabaah’s 14-year ordeal as an indication of gaps in the welfare system for health workers injured in the line of duty.
“For 14 years, our brother Solomon has endured pain, uncertainty, reduced life value, and disappointment while waiting for appropriate assistance and medical attention,” he said.
Mr. Amegadzie stressed that the union’s intervention does not absolve government of its responsibility to provide comprehensive support to workers injured while serving the nation.
“The support being offered today does not replace the responsibility of government, and by extension the employer, to provide the necessary care and support to staff who suffer injuries or health conditions in line of duty,” he said.
He urged government and relevant authorities to prioritise the welfare and safety of health workers, warning that a neglected workforce could ultimately affect healthcare delivery.
“Health workers cannot effectively care for others if their own welfare is neglected,” Mr. Amegadzie said.
The unions have appealed to government, corporate institutions and well-meaning Ghanaians to support Mr. Gyabaah to access the full medical treatment required to restore his health and enable him to continue his duties.
The unions also called for stronger systems to protect health workers who suffer injuries while performing official duties.
The Acting Eastern Regional Director of Ghana Health Ssrvice Dr. Moses Barimah Djimatey commended the union leadership for the intervention but added his voice for policy makers to improve welfare of healthcare workers as a motivation and job security.
Source: Starrfm.com.gh
