{"id":380309,"date":"2017-12-05T15:23:32","date_gmt":"2017-12-05T15:23:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=380309"},"modified":"2017-12-05T18:11:53","modified_gmt":"2017-12-05T18:11:53","slug":"kumasi-academy-to-close-down-over-mysterious-student-deaths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/12\/kumasi-academy-to-close-down-over-mysterious-student-deaths\/","title":{"rendered":"Kumasi Academy to close down over ‘mysterious’ student deaths"},"content":{"rendered":"
The Kumasi Academy (KUMACA) in the Ashanti Region, will be closed down latest by Friday, December 8, following the multiple cases of ‘mysterious’ health-related deaths in the school over the past week.<\/p>\n
Before the closure happens, the Ashanti Regional, Minister Simon Osei Mensah, told Citi News<\/strong> the students and staff of the school would have to be screened to make sure that none of them has an ailment that is infectious.<\/p>\n [contextly_sidebar id=”dbqTMu85qu1GdlvKAh1yp7J0WDAsQJkG”]This decision was taken after a meeting with the Ashanti Regional Health Directorate, the Ghana Education Service, and the school\u2019s Parents and Teacher Association.<\/p>\n On the screening and treatment, the Minister said “we will give doses to all the students, teaching staff and non-teaching staff. I am told it is going to be a three-day exercise.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Osei Mensah explained that, the screening was necessary to minimize the risk posed by the supposed ‘mysterious’ illness.<\/p>\n “Immediately after the exercise, we will close down the school and ask all the students to go home. The reason why we don\u2019t want to close the school now is that, we don\u2019t want a situation whereby if the disease is infectious and some students have already got the infection, they are going to infect their whole family with it. That will be a serious risk” he said.<\/p>\n Six students have so far been discharged from the KNUST hospital, while 18 others are still on admission.<\/p>\n Four students died earlier in 2017, whilst three died just last week. Another died on Tuesday morning, prompting parents to raise concerns about the safety of their wards in the school.<\/p>\n The Noguchi\u00a0Memorial Institute for Medical Research is expected to present a report on the cause of deaths on Wednesday. The\u00a0deaths have so far been suspected to be meningitis-related.<\/p>\n The Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyemang-Manu, has also been summoned <\/a><\/strong><\/span>to Parliament over the death of students.<\/p>\n