The Ashanti Regional branch of the Paediatric Society of Ghana (PSG), has signaled a strong inclination towards child rights protection advocacy in addition to its core duties of giving optimal health care to children.

Dr Anthony Enimil, President, PSG, said the move is part of efforts to approach child health more holistically in the backdrop of the growing clinical experience of child abuse cases seen at hospitals.

He said turning a blind eye to protecting children from being abused as well as seeking justice for victims of abuse would be unhelpful to national efforts at stemming child mortality and morbidity – one of the targets s of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s).

Dr Enimil was speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on the sidelines of a lecture on child abuse held by the Society in Kumasi.

On hand to deliver the talk was the Regional Coordinator of the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU), Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Benjamin Dokurugu.

In attendance were doctors, nurses, pharmacists, paramedical staff and other stakeholders of child health in the Region.

It provided the platform to enlighten the health professionals on how to identify cases and facilitate the process to seek justice for victims.

He said the monthly meetings also aim at forging stronger links with child health stakeholders and bringing them on a common platform to tackle challenges of child health.

Dr Enimil said perpetrators of child abuse, either parents or others hardly know that they flout the law by their actions ostensibly meant to discipline their errant kids.

He called on DOVSSU to initiate an intensive educational campaign to create the awareness.

DSP Dokurugu called on the hospital to waive bills of victims whose parents cannot pay for their medical examination, saying “the absence of these reports stall investigations and subsequent prosecution of child abuse cases”.

He counseled parents of victims to report cases early enough when all the evidence needed for prosecution is still present, citing defilement, which will need exhibits like semen, or the presence of cracks/laceration in victim’s private parts as important evidence.