Dr Justina Ansah, the Director of National Blood Service at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH), who is accused of defaming her former driver as HIV positive, yesterday, opened her defence before the Accra High Court.
Mr Edward Kofi Ghunney, the plaintiff, and staff of the Ministry of Health (MoH), sued the medical practitioner and demanded GH¢200,000 compensation from her for alleged defamation.
Dr Ansah denied any wrong doing and testified that she invited only Mr Ghunney to counsel him in her office when his test result was reactive.
Dr Ansah, who is a consultant physician and specialist in blood transfusion medicine, told the court presided by Justice Eric Kyei Baffour that she needed to counsel the plaintiff as a blood donor to ensure confidentiality.
The 56-year-old Director of Blood Service, who has been working with the service since 1992, said in her statement of defence that she was informed by the National Blood Service Laboratory that Ghunney’s test result was reactive.
Answering questions under cross-examination by Mariah Irene Allotey Hammond, plaintiff’s counsel, Dr Ansah explained that blood sample is considered indeterminate in transfusion medicine when a donor’s result turns reactive in the initial test and non-reactive in another test.
She said that when blood turns reactive and non-reactive, a confirmatory test had to be conducted to determine the status of the donor.
Below is what transpired at cross-examination.
Counsel: You called Mr Ghunney in your office on December 1, 2014.
Defendant: I did call him and the reason was to counsel him.
Counsel: Did you call any other staff to talk to him about his or her HIV status ?
Defendant: No, I did not call any other staff.
The plaintiff, who claimed to be the official driver of the defendant, and now with the Disease Surveillance Department, said the wrongful imputation has made him a subject of public ridicule and contempt as he continues to suffer stigmatisation from relatives and friends.
In his affidavit, Mr Ghunney said, among other things, that he had donated blood to the Service for more than 24 times, but after his last donation on July 25, 2014, Dr Ansah invited him on December 1, 2014 and told him that he was HIV positive.
The plaintiff averred that he denied the allegation and the defendant challenged him to take another test at the Reference Laboratory at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital which he obliged, and the test result showed the plaintiff was HIV negative.
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