The Ghana Medical Association (GMA) is demanding an insurance package in an event of an Ebola outbreak in Ghana.
The insurance is to serve as motivation for health workers who will be tasked to treat affected patients.
The association says the insurance should also come with the necessary protective gear needed to handle Ebola patients.
Public Health Specialist at the Disease and Surveillance Department, Dr. Franklin Asiedu Bekoe told Citi News, the Ministry of Health is working to insure health workers who will be fighting any outbreak.
Deputy General Secretary of the GMA, Dr. Justice Yankson said their demand is imperative as it will give some level of confidence to the doctors to tackle the disease should it break out in Ghana.
He desribed the nation’s level of preparedness as “nothing to write home about” because it is highly probable that an infected person will make his way into Ghana without being noticed.
“The chances that somebody will pass away or come into contact with the disease is about 50 to 90%” therefore, he stated that since doctors and other health personnel will be the front liners in the absence of risk allowances, “it is just fair that members in my profession should have adequate insurance cover.”
Dr. Yankson clarified that there are not demanding extra money but “we are talking about trying minimize the risk.”
He insisted that there is ample evidence that there isn’t enough preparedness for doctors.
The GMA Deputy General Secretary remarked that if the insurance cover is set up by the government, it should not be done in isolation but “it should be done in conjunction with all the protective facilities that they [government] is talking about.”
He called for the strengthening of all preparedness level at facilities across the country.
The Health Minister, Dr. Agyeman-Mensah has announced that the government is setting up Ebola centers across the country in the advent on an outbreak of the disease in Ghana.
Screening of travellers from the West African sub-region is done at the various entry points into Ghana.
The disease has so far been recorded in four West African countries, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria.
Over 800 people have died from the Ebola virus.
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By: Betty Kankam-Boadu/citifmonline.com/Ghana