Why do Ghanaian doctors get so mad when patients come to hospitals with advanced diseases after they have tried all sorts of herbal medications and prayer camps?

I am guilty myself of blasting patients on several occasions for this same reason. But come to think of it, Ghanaian doctors hardly get time to address patients’ concerns during outpatient consultations, and who can blame them? It is impractical to spend more than 15 minutes with a single patient when you have a long queue of other patients waiting to be seen, so we tend to adopt a more utilitarian approach, seeing as many patients within the available time.

But should that be a good reason not to educate the public on health issues?

Each time you turn on the TV or tune in to a radio station, there is always one pastor or a herbalist ranting about a medical condition he/she has no knowledge of and promising people all sorts of cures. Whiles, we sit in our consulting rooms and laugh at their ignorance, the wrong information they spread is what informs our patients’ health-seeking behaviors.

I think it is about time we health professionals made good use of social media and other news platforms in educating the Ghanaian population on everyday medical conditions.

And until we start doing this, we can’t blame our patients for choosing herbalists, fetish priests, and pastors as their first point of medical care.

And don’t get me wrong, I believe there are countless reasons why people seek alternative medical care, the key among which been cost of care, but we can’t deny the fact that information plays a major role.