Despite constitutional guarantees of the right to industrial action, workers in essential services such as health professionals are not permitted by law to do so, Mr Emile Francis Short, Commissioner for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), has said.
Speaking at a forum organized by the African Commission of Health and Human Rights Promoters, Mr Short said whether the action took the form of work-to-rule, a go-slow or a sit-down strike, an industrial action by health
professionals raised ethical issues because of its potential impact on
patients' well-being.
It is in this direction that the country's labour laws prohibited providers of essential service from resorting to those means to press home demand for improved conditions of service.
Mr Short stated this when he addressed the forum on the topic "Health professionals rights to industrial action; Patients rights to medical care, whose rights" in Accra.
He said international conventions and law appreciated medical care as a right of the patient, which must be respected and promoted.
He cited international treaties such as Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, World Health Organization provisions among others saying they provided and guaranteed
rights to all persons especially those of patients to medical care no matter the circumstances.
He said based on those treaties and given that the job of health professionals was basically to save lives, an assertion of their rights to industrial action did not only constitute an illegality but would also
negatively affected the rights of patients to medical care.
The CHRAJ Commissioner said the country also ratified the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights, which guaranteed the right of everyone to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.
He made reference to Article 30 of the 1992 Constitution saying even persons by reason of sickness or any other cause were unable to consent to medical treatment must not be denied of the facility.
He said health professionals had always violated the law to embark on industrial action.
Mr Short said foreseeing that grievances might emerge among persons engaged in essential services, the Labour Act set out a clear procedural
mechanism to address such grievances.
He said all over the years, the issue of lack of willingness on part of
government to implement agreed principles or respect for the laws by the health professionals had led to industrial actions to the detriment of
patients.
"While it should be the fundamental principle of health professionals not to engage in any act, including industrial actions, to the detriment of the patients' right to medical care, it is extremely important for government to respect all terms of agreement with health professionals" he said.
He said reneging on agreements by government to satisfy demands of health professionals was equally detrimental to the right to good living by the professionals.
Mr Short said health professionals had a critical role to play in the promotion and realization of patients' rights to medical care and called on government to commit to ensuring that health professionals worked under
satisfactory conditions including adequate remunerations and facilities.
He also called on both parties to respect the Labour Laws and abide by its rulings to ensure a harmonious industrial atmosphere in the country.