Wrong diagnosis killing deaf people

The National Association of the Deaf is alarmed at the increasing death rate of its members due to wrong prescriptions and diagnosis, resulting from doctors’ lack of knowledge of sign language.

The association has therefore demanded recruitment of sign language interpreters at health facilities to correct the situation.


Narrating his ordeal to Joy News’ Hannah Odame, the President of the Association, Emmanuel Sackey recounted how he spent several hours in the Hospital because he could not hear when he was called to be attended to by the doctor.


“After about two hours when I realised all those who came to meet me had left, I wrote on a sheet of paper to them that I was deaf. That was when one nurse accompanied me for my temperature and others to be taken,” he noted through an interpreter.


“Initially when I tried to communicate with the doctor through sign language, he started laughing at me; he couldn’t understand me,” he said. According to him, he realised that what was written down as the diagnosis was not what he complained about.


Emmanuel Sackey noted he had to go back to the hospital because he did not recover days after taking the medication prescribed for him.

In a related development, the Ghana Federation of Disabled, the umbrella association of all persons living with disability,has called for the inclusion of sign language training in the Curriculum of Teacher Training Colleges in the country to increase sign language interpreters.


The call was made when Members of the Federation called on the President. They also asked the President to have a sign language interpreter for all his outdoor assignments.


President Mahama assured the group their needs will be duly addressed under the newly created Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection.


“Under the new Ministry, I'm sure there will be a new energy in dealing with issues of Persons with Disability and I'm confident that with the Minister we have, you’ll see a difference in the way your issues are handled,” the President said.