He said the National Petroleum Authority will adopt strategies at cabinet to address the menace.

Mr. Addo-Yobo was speaking to Citi News’ Caleb Kudah after an extent of damage assessment at the Atomic Junction gas explosion site on Thursday.

“We wanted to see what exactly has happened so that within the cause of time we will take measures to avert this. The killing of innocent lives is too much and we are concerned,” he said.

7 people were killed, with 132 others injured, as two gas explosions occurred at Atomic junction in Accra on Saturday.

The explosions left many structures destroyed, with some vehicles totally burnt. The incident has revived discussions about the compliance of fuel stations to laid down safety regulations.

Many have accused regulatory bodies such as the NPA of shirking their responsibilities, and failing to enforce the law to deal with offending fuel stations. But according to the Board Chairman, the NPA is waiting to act on a cabinet decision later today [Thursday], on how to address the recurring accidents.

“We are waiting for cabinet decision today [Thursday], after that, we will implement the decision…. We will see what we have to do, not just here, but elsewhere because these killings must stop,” he said.

“We will do whatever we can so that these things will either be eliminated completely or reduced,” he added.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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This revelation was made on the Citi Breakfast Show on Tuesday, by consultant plastic surgeon and Director of the National Reconstructive Plastic Surgery and Burns Center at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Dr. Opoku-Ware Ampomah.

He noted that, burns from gas explosions account for about 44% of deaths recorded at the burns centre.

[contextly_sidebar id=”mne9uRoEj6yMz5t5t3mCsB1ImGtbEBwb”]“Most of the burns are domestic. I’d say about 80 percent are domestic. Occasionally, we have a bit where there is mass casualty situation. About 35 to 40 percent of the fuel burns admissions are from petroleum and gas explosions. So they account for a significant junk of the burns cases that we receive. And because of the severity of the injuries that they get, they account for over 44% of the death from burns annually,” he noted.

Dr. Ampomah made the revelation on the back of fuel explosions recorded nationwide with the recent one being the gas explosion that occurred last Saturday at Atomic junction near the University of Ghana in Accra.

In that explosion, seven people perished, while 132 others suffered various degrees of injury.

Over 30 people have died since 2014 due to gas explosions.

NHIS pays GHc1, 000 out of GHc30, 000 spent on burns patients

Dr. Ampomah also disclosed that, burns patients spend an average of GHc30, 000, but the country’s National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) covers only GHc1, 000.

He said a lot more burns patients die because they are unable to pay for such charges.

“When somebody sustains about 30 or 40 percent, by the time they leave the hospital, they would have spent not less than GHc30, 000 on their treatment, and this is the acute treatment alone – I’m talking of the immediate care to get them discharged from the hospital… And at the moment, the health insurance scheme only provides just about a GHc1, 000 per burns patient.”

“So if you have somebody with just 30% burns who needs an average of about GHc30, 000 in an acute state, and health insurance is providing only GHc1, 000 for the treatment, then you can imagine the kind of difficulty the person will go through,” he noted.

The plastic surgeon explained that, although some philanthropists subsidize the amount, Dr. Ampomah noted that, the patients still struggle to bear the cost.

“Most of the time we have to find a way of getting benevolent people to subsidize the treatment of some of these patients, and that also adds to the mortality because there are many patients who cannot just afford the treatment that is required,” he added.

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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Chief Executive Officer of the Authority, Hassan Tampuli, who made the revelation on the Citi Breakfast Show on Monday, said the letter was given to MANSCO through the Oil Marketing Company (OMC) that supplied it with LPG, Hills Oil.

[contextly_sidebar id=”1v4cdIJhcXTwYU0NyAMmlcqRhTwDlNdP”]“In the case of this particular station, we did the monitoring and inspection in April 2017, so it was part of Greater Accra inspection and monitoring exercise. We wrote to them a letter which was sent to them on 10^th of July. What the letter said was that, we’ve done monitoring and inspection of your station and we come to the realization that they fell short of a number of things and we catalogued them. One of the things we said was that, their forecourt was too busy of activities which includes taxi rank, food vendors among others. So we thought that, that was unsafe so they should put in place the necessary safety measures,” Mr. Tampuli told Bernard Avle on the Citi Breakfast Show.

Mr. Tampuli said his outfit also wrote a letter to six other filling stations that had questionable safety measures.

Reading excerpts of the letter sent across, the NPA boss said: “…the exercise revealed that 7 of the LPG filling gas stations at Adjei Kojo, Tema community 9, Ada Bedeku, Kobekrom, Ada Kasei, Atomic Junction and Oyibi did not fully satisfy the standards of operation prescribed by Authority…You are required to address the identified shortcomings by close of business Monday, 4^th September 2017, and notify the authority for an inspection of the seven LPG plants.”

He also said three demands were made to MANSCO.

“First of all, we said there was too much activity on the forecourt especially around the cylinder filling and auto gas area. Secondly, more safety signs should be provided at the facility and thirdly, customers should be prevented from assessing the filling area, a separate waiting area must be provided,” he said.

7 die in Atomic junction gas explosion

About seven people perished, and 132 sustained varied degrees of injury when the MANSCO gas station exploded.

The incident has however ignited pressure on supervisory state bodies to put the various filling stations in country under constant check to forestall such explosions in future.

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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He was accompanied by a number of government officials and personnel from the Ghana National Fire Service to the various hospitals the victims were receiving medical attention.

So far, seven people have died, whiles some 68 are receiving treatment, with 64 discharged.

Dr. Bawumia used the opportunity to sympathize with the survivors, and also wished them speedy recovery.

The Vice President also extended his condolences to the bereaved families.

He had said early on that government will foot the medical bills of the injured persons, as efforts are being made to introduce a policy that will sanitize the fuel retail sector to avoid such explosions.

Nearly 30 lives have been lost to about eight gas explosions in the last three years. This excludes the twin disaster of flood and fire on June 3, 2015, which killed nearly 150 people.

Some 7 people lost their lives, and 132 others sustained varied degrees of injury in the gas explosion on Saturday.

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By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Some seven people have so far lost their lives, with 132 others sustaining varied degrees of injury.

Speaking during his tour in the Northern Region on Sunday, Nana Akufo-Addo said one of the main agenda for the meeting is to decide on the way forward for the prevention of such explosions.

[contextly_sidebar id=”QiUkYcnyjj4xZM0CA2cKjxkioMmCcAl4″]“Cabinet will be meeting on Thursday, and I believe that out of that meeting, the country will know what our programme is – the comprehensive programme – that we intend to have to bring such incidents to a stop. The one that happened yesterday [Saturday], is one too many, we cannot afford more of that,” he said.

He also called on the businesses in the fuel sector, to cooperate with government as it seeks to find a way of preventing future fuel station explosions.

“I would like everybody involved in the industry to recognize that we all have to make adjustments to be able to guarantee the safety and the security of our people so that these things do not happen again. I need the support and cooperation of the people of Ghana to make the policies that we will be bringing up succeed so that such incidents become a thing of the past and not of the future,” Akufo-Addo added.

Gas explosions: We won’t tolerate resistance to reforms – Bawumia

Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, who on Saturday joined President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on a three-day official tour of the Northern Region, was compelled to leave for Accra when the news broke out.

Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, speaking at the scene of the Saturday night explosion at Atomic Junction in Accra, said a policy is in the offing to deal with the safety concerns once and for all.

He said the government will it put its foot down and turn a deaf ear to arguments against proposed reforms particularly in the sale of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG).

He has so far visited the site of the explosion, and has visited the 37 Military Hospital to commiserate with the victims.

He has promised that Government will foot the bills of all the injured persons. He however assured the populace that this time round, government will be stricter on safety measures by introducing a new policy in the petroleum retail sector to prevent such disasters.

The explosion occurred at the MANSCO gas station at Atomic Junction near the University of Ghana.

Residents were thrown into a state of pandemonium following the piercing sound of the explosion as well as the giant scary fireball that was formed in the sky.

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“The news of last night’s gas explosion at Atomic Junction, resulting in the loss of lives and injuries to several others, has left me devastated,” he said on Twitter.

The news of last night’s gas explosion at Atomic Junc, resulting in the loss of 4 lives & injuries to several others, has left me devastated

— Nana Akufo-Addo (@NAkufoAddo) October 8, 2017

About six people perished following the gas explosion that occurred on Saturday with others sustained various degrees of injury.

The President who lamented over the issue took to his Twitter handle, to express condolences to the bereaved families as well as those injured.

“My deepest condolences to the families of the bereaved, and I wish the injured speedy recovery,” he added.

My deepest condolences to the families of the bereaved, and I wish the injured speedy recovery.

— Nana Akufo-Addo (@NAkufoAddo) October 8, 2017

I have dispatched the Vice President to the scene of the tragedy this morning.

— Nana Akufo-Addo (@NAkufoAddo) October 8, 2017

The gas filling station at Atomic Junction in Accra exploded on Saturday.

Residents were thrown into a state of pandemonium following the piercing sound of the explosion as well as the giant scary fireball that was formed in the sky.

Students of the University of Ghana and PRESEC fled for their lives.

Personnel from the Fire Service battled to put off the fire, but it was completely doused on Sunday morning.

Nana Akufo-Addo also assured of putting in place the necessary measures to prevent such occurrences.

“Government is resolved, now more than ever, to ensure such an incident does not occur again.”

Government is resolved, now more than ever, to ensure such an incident does not occur again.

— Nana Akufo-Addo (@NAkufoAddo) October 8, 2017

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This was confirmed to Citi News by the Deputy Public Relations Officer of Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), Billy Anaglatey.

“As we speak, six people dead due to this fire,” he said, adding that about 35 others sustained various degrees of injury.

It is unclear whether all the six died from burns, following reports that a vehicle knocked two students down as people run for their lives.

There are also reports that one 0f the deceased died out of panic by falling off an overpass around the area.

Mr. Anaglatey said his team is still on the ground, and at the hospitals where some of the victims were sent to in a bid to get the total number of casualties.

“Until we are able to reconcile the number, six are so far dead.”

Fireball scare

A gas filling station at Atomic Junction in Accra exploded on Saturday.

Residents were thrown into a state of pandemonium following the piercing sound of the explosion as well as the giant scary fireball that was formed in the sky.

Students of the University of Ghana and PRESEC fled for their lives.

Personnel from the Fire Service battled to put off the fire, but it was completely doused on Sunday morning.

Mr. Anaglatey told Citi News that “the last fire went off 6:00am this morning [Sunday].”

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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Residents were thrown into a state of pandemonium following the piercing sound of the explosion as well as the giant scary fireball that was formed in the sky.

Students of the University of Ghana and PRESEC fled for their lives.

It is currently unclear what triggered the fire or the number of casualties involved.

Below is what we know so far:

The explosion occurred at the MANSCO gas station at Atomic Junction

The first explosion was heard at about 7:20pm

The fire caught an adjacent fuel station

A second explosion was heard few minutes later

Some cars parked close by have been burnt to ashes

At least one person has been confirmed dead as of Saturday

Scores of injured people have been rushed to the Legon and Korle-Bu Teaching Hospitals

Residents of Bani and James Topp Nelson Yankah hall of the University of Ghana escaped to safety

There was power outage at parts of the University of Ghana campus

There was a stampede at the Legon campus over the incident

The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia rushed back to Accra truncating his birthday party in the Northern Region

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By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

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A team at the Institute of Cancer Research in London found women had larger waistlines if their bedroom was “light enough to see across” at night.

However, they caution there is not enough evidence to advise people to buy thicker curtains or turn off lights.

The study of 113,000 women was published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

The women were asked to rate the amount of light in their bedrooms at night as:

• Light enough to read
• Light enough to see across the room, but not read
• Light enough to see your hand in front of you, but not across the room
• Too dark to see your hand or you wear a mask

Their answers were compared to several measures of obesity. Body Mass Index, waist-to-hip ratio and waist circumference were all higher in women with lighter rooms.

Prof Anthony Swerdlow, from the Institute of Cancer Research, told the BBC: “In this very large group of people there is an association between reported light exposure at night and overweight and obesity.

“But there is not sufficient evidence to know if making your room darker would make any difference to your weight.

“There might be other explanations for the association, but the findings are intriguing enough to warrant further scientific investigation.”

Body Clock

One possible explanation is that the light is disrupting the body clock, which stems from our evolutionary past when we were active when it was light in the day and resting when it was dark at night.

Light alters mood, physical strength and even the way we process food in a 24-hour cycle.

Artificial light is known to disrupt the body clock by delaying the production of the sleep hormone melatonin.

Prof Derk-Jan Dijk, from the Surrey Sleep Centre, said there would be no harm in trying to make bedrooms darker.

He told the BBC: “People in general are not aware of the light present in their bedroom, I think people should assess their bedroom and see how easy it would be to make it darker.”

Street lights, some alarm clocks and standby lights on electrical equipment such as televisions could light a room, he said.

“Overall this study points to the importance of darkness,” he concluded.

Cancer

The study was funded by Breakthrough Breast Cancer and the findings emerged from a long-term study to understand the risk factors for breast cancer. Obesity is known to increase the odds of the disease.

Dr Matthew Lam, from the charity, commented: “It’s too early to suggest that sleeping in the dark will help prevent obesity, a known risk factor for breast cancer, but the association is certainly interesting.

“Whilst we are learning more and more each day about the environmental, genetic and lifestyle factors that affect breast cancer risk, it is not yet possible to predict who will get breast cancer, and for women who have been diagnosed with the disease, we can’t yet say what caused it.”

Source: BBC

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Scientists from Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Manchester and Surrey universities warn cutting sleep is leading to “serious health problems”.

They say people and governments need to take the problem seriously.

Cancer, heart disease, type-2 diabetes, infections and obesity have all been linked to reduced sleep.

The body clock drives huge changes in the human body.

It alters alertness, mood, physical strength and even the risk of a heart attack in a daily rhythm

It stems from our evolutionary past when we were active in the day and resting at night.

But scientists have warned that modern life and 24-hour society mean many people are now “living against” their body clocks with damaging consequences for health and wellbeing.

Prof Russell Foster, at the University of Oxford, said people were getting between one and two hours less sleep a night than 60 years ago.

He said: “We are the supremely arrogant species; we feel we can abandon four billion years of evolution and ignore the fact that we have evolved under a light-dark cycle.

“What we do as a species, perhaps uniquely, is override the clock. And long-term acting against the clock can lead to serious health problems.”

He says this is an issue affecting the whole of society, not just shift workers.

Prof Foster said that this was an acute problem in teenagers and he had met children who sleep by popping their parent’s sleeping tablets in the evening and then downing three Red Bulls in the morning.

Blue light

Emerging evidence suggests modern technology is now keeping us up later into the night and cutting sleep.

“Light is the most powerful synchroniser of your internal biological clock,” Prof Charles Czeisler, from Harvard University, told the BBC Day of the Body Clock.

He said energy efficient light bulbs as well as smartphones, tablets and computers had high levels of light in the blue end of the spectrum which is “right in the sweet spot” for disrupting the body clock.

“Light exposure, especially short wavelength blue-ish light in the evening, will reset our circadian rhythms to a later hour, postponing the release of the sleep-promoting hormone melatonin and making it more difficult for us to get up in the morning.

“It’s a big concern that we’re being exposed to much more light, sleeping less and, as a consequence, may suffer from many chronic diseases.”

Pioneering genetic research is now uncovering how living life against the clock is damaging our health.

About 10% of human DNA has a 24-hour pattern of activity, which is behind all the behavioural and physiological changes in the body.

But studies have shown rhythm can be disrupted by short sleep durations or shift work.

Dr Simon Archer, who conducted the studies at the University of Surrey, said there was a “large impact” on how the body ran.

“These are all fundamental biological pathways that can be underlying links to some of the negative health outcomes that we see such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity and potentially cancer in people who don’t get enough sleep or do shift work,” he said.

Experiments show people can become pre-diabetic after a few weeks of shift work.

Call to action

Dr Akhilesh Reddy, from the University of Cambridge, said the body clock influences every biological process in the human body and the health consequences of living against the clock were “pretty clear cut”,particularly in breast cancer.

He said: “Try to live more rhythmically, in tune with the environment and not have too much bright light before bedtime because it will affect the clock and sleep.”

Prof Andrew Loudon, from the University of Manchester, said: “The problems caused by living against the body clock may be less sexy than the countless ‘this or that causes cancer stories’ it is none-the-less a major problem for society.”

“You might not notice any short-term changes in your health following circadian disruption, but over a long period of time, the consequences could be quite severe.

“Governments need to take this seriously, starting perhaps with reviewing the health consequences of shift work, and society and legislators needs to take this on board.”

Source: BBC

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