Executive Secretary at Advocacy for Medical Malpractice Victims (AMMV), Kwame Brobbey Appiah has shared the processes they go through as a non-governmental organization in seeking justice for victims of medical malpractice or negligence.

During a live interview with host, Samuel Eshun on eTV Ghana’s Fact Sheet, he noted that at AMMV, firstly, they listen to the narrative of people who allegedly are victims of medical malpractice or negligence and then the review panel analyzes the raw story.

“The review panel is made up of experts from various fields of the medical practice. They are members of our advocacy group who are specialized in various fields and we’re not just talking about doctors. It could be any healthcare giver. It could be a pharmacist, a nurse, midwife or what have you.

As and when the patient gives us the narrative, we also subject it to interrogation from the review panel so they give us an assessment and they we bring our legal knowledge to bare trying to establish a prima facie case to know that we have enough grounds to prosecute an agenda of that sort”, he detailed.

Kwame continued that if they are convinced per the evidence available to them at the time that they can take up the matter, then they try to go to court. However, he made clear that they try to engage the medical facility and listen to their side of the story before heading to court.

He again mentioned that there are instances where the hospital admits that something did go wrong on their part and request to sit down with the victim and try to agree on ways of duly and adequately compensating them for life to become a bit more bearable for them.

In such instances, they lead the conversation with the hospital on behalf of the victim but in cases where they have to go to court, the AMMV takes the lead with the experts available at their disposal to charter that course and see how best they can get justice for the victims.