The government of Ghana has disputed the findings of the Northeastern University in the United States of America (USA) which stated that Ghana will record its first case of Ebola by the end of October 2014.
According to the research, which was undertaken before Senegal, Nigeria and the United States of America (USA) recorded any case of the disease and published on October 6, 2014, Ghana tops the list of countries most at risk of the deadly disease.
[contextly_sidebar id=”74ULa3s8nscwNMOZBlGzJm3XN7fWR8TA”]However, The Minister for Health, Dr. Kwaku Agyeman Mensah, while touring the Ebola-preparedness facilities at the Kotoka International Airport, questioned the University’s findings, insisting that they were satisfied with the measures that had been put in place to prevent an outbreak in the country.
“I don’t know how they came by that date [October 31] or how they did their analysis. But I want to assure you that in Ghana we have Ebola preparedness and a response plan underpinned by a three-pronged strategy; public education, screening and effective case management. We are satisfied with what we have seen,” he said.
An earlier research conducted by Oxford University in the United Kingdom, named Ghana as one of 15 countries, including Cameroon, Central African Republic and Burundi, at risk of animal-to-human transmission of Ebola by virtue of their geography.
Sticking to Their Guns
The Health Ministry has, on a number of occasions, assured Ghanaians that the country is ready for the disease and is well-equipped to deal with any outbreak. The Deputy minister of the sector, Dr Victor Bampoe, speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show said that the government has put in place a number of measures to tackle any possible outbreak of the disease.
“When it comes to getting ready for incident management, the Tema treatment center is up and running, there is still some few modifications that we are continuing to do that will even make it even better,” he said.
However, medical practitioners in the country remain unconvinced by the government’s assurances, with the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) stating that a lot more needs to be done.
“Let me say that even as doctors,we feel that the training is inadequate. If you look at Ebola, it is not just doctors, every health worker is at risk. And indeed every Ghanaian is at risk. So in terms of training, I don’t think it is adequate,” said the GMA’s General Secretary, Dr. Frank Serebour.
Although several suspected cases have been reported across the country, no official case of the disease has been recorded of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) which has so far claimed the lives of over 4,000 people in West Africa since the start of the year.
By: Edwin Kwakofi/citifmonline.com/Ghana