Ghanaian students in the Chinese city of Wuhan have reiterated calls on government to evacuate them as they face depleting food supplies amid an ongoing shut down of the city.
Wuhan is ground zero for the coronavirus.
The students say they are yet to receive food and protective items despite the release of almost GH₵40,000 by the Ghana Embassy in Beijing.
Some of the students in an interview said: “…the little foodstuff we have is what we’ve been surviving on. For instance, if you’re someone who eats three times a day, you would have to eat once a day so you’ll be able to survive with what you have. So the message is just one. We need evacuation.”
“Almost all the East and North African countries have evacuated their people from Wuhan but Ghana of whom we have the most populated African students in China is delaying in evacuating its citizens. We are starving,” one of the students lamented.
Another Ghanaian student said, “Imagine you are in a university and all your mates have been evacuated. Those coming from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and other places are gone and you are here alone and you don’t know your fate. Things are becoming difficult. I have a friend who bought a nose mask two weeks ago and it has still not been delivered.”
Groups call for evacuation
The China chapter of the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) called on the government to evacuate all Ghanaian students in China to avoid any possible contraction of the contagious coronavirus.
The University Students’ Association of Ghana (USAG) also added its voice to the call for evacuation of Ghanaians students from China.
In a statement, they expressed unhappiness that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had not commented on the issue and demanded the evacuation of Ghanaian students in China.
The Member of Parliament for the North Tongu constituency, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa had also asked the 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 virus.
He said, considering the fact that the outbreak has been declared a global health emergency by the World Health Organization, it would be better to have the Ghanaians returned to the country especially as there is no confirmation that any of them are infected.
