PWDS FACE DISCRIMINATION AT HEALTH FACILITIES IN SPITE OF GHANA’S RATIFICATION OF VARIOUS INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS

Although Ghana has ratified and adopted various international agreements on the rights of People with Disabilities (PWDs), they continue to face various forms of discrimination at health facilities.

According to the 2010 census, 3.1 percent of PWDs in the country are females as against 2.9 percent of males; and in Eastern Region of the total population, the prevailing rate is 12.8 percent of PWDs out of which 13 percent of them are females.

According to the Suhum Municipal Coordinator of the Ghana Society for the Physically Disabled (GSPD), Yaw Budu, they receive several complaints from their female members who attend health facilities.

The main thread that runs through, he said, is: “they make us look like inferior human beings”.

He said we need to pay attention to the fact that a person with various forms of disabilities and using a wheelchair or clutches is not the same as a person who has no deformity seeking medical care.

And much as we all experience similar ailments, those without disability concerns can move more freely whereas the PWDs suffer in silence, Mr Budu said.

Reports also show that poverty and illiteracy levels among PWDs are higher than people with no disability concerns and they find it difficult to have access to education and skills training due to the fact that there are no facilities to aid them.

Studies have also shown that people with lower education background coupled with poverty are likely to be susceptible to diseases and preventable deaths.

They are also more likely to indulge in complicated abortions and taking in various concoctions leading to complications in pregnancies, hence the need to provide PWDs with the needed facilities to ensure that nothing prevents them from accessing services at health facilities in time of pregnancies.