Dr Ronald Sowah, the Western Regional HIV and AIDS Focal Person, has appealed to health workers who examine rape and defilement victims to be honest in their report and avoid compromising the ethics of their profession.
He said the findings of the examination of alleged sexually abused victims must be recorded accurately devoid of any exaggeration
so that innocent persons would not be incarcerated.
“You should not allow yourselves to be influenced or induced by any monetary consideration to give false reports because that could be detrimental to your profession and the course of justice,” he said.
Dr Sowah was addressing over 200 health workers drawn from 17 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies in the Western Region
at a day’s workshop in Takoradi.
He said findings recorded on police forms could be subjected to serious scrutiny by legal practitioners in the court of law, therefore, the health worker who records such findings should be
prepared to defend them in court when called upon to do so.
Dr Sowah said only certified medical doctors had the right to endorse police medical forms and advised other health workers who did not have the authorization to do so to desist from endorsing such legal documents.
The workshop, which was funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), was aimed at training health workers to be abreast with the basic facts on HIV and AIDS as well as to manage post exposure prophylaxis of blood products and body fluids.
It is also aimed at informing health personnel in the Western, Central and Greater Accra regions on how to reduce the spread of the
HIV, malaria and hepatitis in their communities.
Dr Sowah expressed happiness over the stabilization of the spread of the HIV in the region, saying in view of the intensified sex
education and public awareness, the prevalence rate of the virus in the region stood at 2.5 percent as at last year, below the national
prevalence rate of 2.9 percent.
He appealed to health workers in the Ellembelle District to intensify sex education in the area in view of the coming of Ivorian refugees to the District.