The Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye has discredited reports of a surge in severely-ill COVID-19 cases.
Media reports citing an internal memo at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital indicated that critical surgeries had been suspended.
This, according to the internal memo, is because anaesthetists whose services are important in surgeries had been moved to take care of critically ill COVID-19 cases at various treatment centres in Accra.
But speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show today, Friday, May 29, 2020, Dr. Kuma-Aboagye allayed fears of surging COVID-19 cases.
“If we feel that we need a lot more anaesthetics, there is nothing wrong with it because that is the main centre where severe cases are sent to. So it’s really nothing. And the number has dropped. If we have had about 34 people who have gone in that situation and 16 have recovered and gone out and we’ve lost about eight out of the number, there is nothing that shows that we are having a surge.”
“I think it’s because we have a whole lot of people who are sick and that is why they are saying that. Korle Bu could give you the reasons better but I can tell you for a fact that it’s not because we are having a surge of severely ill persons,” he said.
Memo
The internal memo which was directed to the Director of Medical Affairs of the Anaesthesia Sub-BMC of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital indicated that more specialist anaesthetists were needed to cover the ICU in UGMS and Ga East Municipal Hospital.
This was due to “the surge in severely ill COVID-19 patients in Accra”, leading to the increased number of functional ICU beds in the mentioned hospitals.
The memo then ordered “anaesthesia cover for urgent cases” to “stop immediately”.
Current COVID-19 cases
Ghana’s COVID-19 case count has risen to 7,616.
According to the Ghana Health Service, 313 new cases have been confirmed with nine more people declared recovered.
The update as of Friday, May 29, 2020 shows that the Bono East region has become the 15th out of Ghana’s 16 regions to record a COVID-19 case.
The region accounts for one of the 313 new cases announced by the GHS.