The China chapter of National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) has called on Government to within the next 48 to 72 hours evacuate all Ghanaian students in China to avoid any possible contraction of the contagious coronavirus.
In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak in the Hubei province of China, several countries including the United States of America and Australia have evacuated their citizens from China.
Reopening dates for most universities in China have been postponed indefinitely following the outbreak of the virus leaving international students stranded.
Vice-President of NUGS-Wuhan, Micheal Akne, in a video said the situation in Wuhan is such that life is becoming difficult for them.
“The situation in Wuhan is that it’s been 11 days now since the lock-down, so as usual our students and members are indoors. Their movement in the city is restricted which means they don’t have access to basic facilities like going to the mall to buy groceries from the market and also there is general fear and panic because the infection rate is increasing so everybody doesn’t want to go out. We are all scared and in our rooms.”
He further called on the government to immediately evacuate them to ensure that no Ghanaian student gets infected and to give the students a safe environment to study.
“So what we really want the government to do for us is that they should lead a Government-sponsored evacuation to take our people out of here to Ghana where they will feel safe and have a good mind to focus on their studies because definitely this is going to affect academic work and the atmosphere here is not good for academic work.”
“So we believe our government should join the other countries that are evacuating their citizens. They don’t have to wait for any of our members to get infected or become a global statistic before they act because our lives are very precious. So this is a clarion call on our government to act as soon as possible. Within the next 48, 72 hours, we want the government to send us a reassuring and powerful message that things are underway for them to come and get us.”
USAG adds voice
The University Students’ Association of Ghana (USAG) in a statement was also unhappy with the Ministry for not commenting on the issue.
“The University Students’ Association of Ghana (USAG) has observed with great concern the silence of the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the pandemic coronavirus outbreak in the People’s Republic of China and the absence of information on the safety measures put in place to safeguard Ghanaian students outside the country, particularly in China,” the group said in a statement.
It also demanded the evacuation of Ghanaian students in China.
“It is in this light we call on the Ghanaian government to bring back home our dear students who are largely exposed to this risk.”
Coronavirus: Evacuate Ghanaians in Wuhan – Ablakwa urges Government
The Member of Parliament for the North Tongu constituency, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa earlier called on government to, as a matter of urgency, evacuate students and other Ghanaians trapped at Wuhan in China’s Hubei Province due to the outbreak of the deadly coronavirus.
He said, considering the fact that the outbreak has been declared a global health emergency by the World Health Organization, it would better to have the Ghanaians returned to the country especially as there is no confirmation that any of them are infected.
The Director of Public Health at the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Badu Sarkodie is reported to have advised the government against evacuating Ghanaians in the virus-stricken city of Wuhan but Ablakwa, who is also the Minority’s spokesperson on foreign affairs said in a statement that evacuating Ghanaians at this point will rather protect the citizens.
