Samson’s Take: Rape, defilement medical treatment is free

Section 8 of the Domestic Violence Act, 2007 provides that a victim of domestic violence including sexual abuse “is entitled to free medical treatment from the State.” The law requires that in a case of emergency or a life-threatening situation this free medical treatment should be offered pending a complaint to the police and issuance of a report.

In fact, as far back as 1971, we made a law, the Hospital Fees Act, which exempts victims of such situations from paying and requiring the State to take up their bills. So, why are physicians, in 2020, demanding as much ¢800 to fill the medical form and as much ¢2,000 to render the professional opinion needed to prosecute the evildoers raping our women and defiling our girls?

In 2017, Martin Kpebu went to court to demand that the State be reminded that by the law it should have in 2007 established a Victims of Domestic Violence Support Fund to avoid situations where poor families accept even less than the cost of the medical treatment as compensation from perpetrators to end the case. Justice Anthony Yeboah asked, “…if it is not offensive to the human dignity of the victim of a crime, when an alleged criminal goes unprosecuted and, therefore, unpunished by reason only of the fact that the victim is poor and incapable of financing the procurement of a medical report which is a step in criminal investigation statutorily assigned to the police…?”

He emphasised that “… the Government is constitutionally enjoined to respect the fundamental human rights and freedoms, which exist to protect the dignity of the human person [and that] both the poor and the rich are equally entitled to have crimes against them punished without discrimination on account of poverty.”

Sadly when the fund was reluctantly set up, very little has been leaving it, reportedly, with only about ¢30,000 today even before got a dime from it. I don’t understand why we make good and beautiful laws and wait expecting citizens to go to court to force implementation. That shouldn’t be necessary this time.

This week, Ms Irene Abochie-Nyahe of the Legal Assistance Network Ghana got many of us signing Actress Ama K. Abebrese’s Petition for action. The Petition started only a couple of weeks ago has over 14,000 signatories and should hit the 15,000 mark today if you joined by visiting change.org and searching for “Abolish Medical Examination Fees For All Victims of Rape And Sexual Assault in Ghana”. The law says it is free, it must be free!

Columnist: Samson Lardy ANYENINI