Multilingualism in Ghana’s Healthcare: A Neglected Barrier

As pertains to many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Ghana is linguistically and culturally diverse. With over 70 indigenous languages among a population of more than 30 million, language pluralism often exists in many contexts including healthcare. However, faced with multiple and growing challenges such as cost, increasing population, access, adequate and appropriate equipment and facilities, multilingualism as a barrier to healthcare is largely downplayed and generally ignored. The complexity of the situation is exacerbated by the growing rural-urban migration, contributing to the highly multiethnic, multicultural, multilingual, and cosmopolitan nature of many cities in Ghana. With a low and continually decreasing doctor-patient ratio of 1:1000 and with no clear policy on language use in healthcare delivery, communication between healthcare professionals and patients relies on the use of gestures, ad hoc-interpreters, and the experience of medical officers, where there is no common language. The lack of language concordance is becoming more common given the multiplicity of languages, particularly in major cities. In many cases, English becomes the de facto language of communication, given the training of medical professionals in English, further serving as a significant barrier to patients with low proficiency in English. This paper examines multilingualism within Ghana’s healthcare system based on audio recordings of 35 doctor-patient interactions and semi-structured interviews in two major hospitals in Accra, Ghana. This paper argues that, in Ghana’s healthcare system, multilingualism is potentially a barrier to good healthcare delivery and recommends the enactment of policies aimed at meeting the demands of its linguistically diverse population to improve patients’ healthcare satisfaction and wellbeing.