The Ghana Medical Association (GMA) is demanding equitable distribution of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) following the increase in the number of confirmed cases of Coronavirus in the country.
GMA argues that the rise in the reported cases warrants an immediate release of essential logistics to allow personnel in health facilities to effectively handle any suspected or confirmed case to avoid the disease from further spread among the population.
On Eyewitness News, General Secretary of the Association, Justice Yankson insisted and made a strong case for the needed health commodities and thus called on the appropriate authorities to expedite actions in that regard.
“We have moved from the preparatory stage where we didn’t have a case in the country to now having six confirmed cases. At the initial and planning stage, we had a limited number of these PPEs and essential logistics- most of them were centred at the National level and to some extent the Regional level. But now, for instance, we have a case at Obuasi which is far from Accra. So this means that we can get a case in any part of the country for which reason we need to be prepared at each level so that when we need to pick samples of a suspected case, the right person who has the right equipment will be available at that level rather than transferring a case right from Accra to say the Upper West Region.”
“So what we are basically saying is that, at this point in time, we should ensure that all parts of the country get all the needed supplies and all these logistics are made available at the facility level. It is very important because once we have the presumption that there is a community contact and someone is infected because of these imported cases, they will also end up at the facility level and the frontline staff should be well protected so they don’t get infected in the process,” he added.
Ghana’s cases so far
Ghana has so far detected six cases of the novel coronavirus in Ghana, four of which were announced on Sunday.
Three of the newest cases were recorded in Accra while one other was recorded in the Obuasi in the Ashanti Region.
So far, 151 people have been identified in contact tracing for four out of six individuals who have the novel coronavirus.
Laboratory Scientists request PPEs, testing centres
The Ghana Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists had earlier asked the government to consider setting up at least two more testing centres for the novel coronavirus to complement the existing two.
The Association has also called on the government to provide basic protective equipment for its members in the wake of the outbreak.
President for the association, Dr. Ignatius Awinibuno said “we are afraid, once the numbers keep going up, we will be faced with this particular problem [of not getting enough testing points]”.
Ghana has testing capabilities for the virus at the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research and the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research but Dr. Awinibuno said at least one more is needed in Accra and one in Tamale or Bolgatanga.
“Concentration on [Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research and the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research for testing] is not enough,” he warned.
He explained that there was some concern because as things stand, “the amount of distance you transport them [samples] will be a risk to the public.”
“It doesn’t cost much as a nation for us to acquire this and confirm a diagnosis in the upper part of the country in let say Tamale which has also a very well equipped lab.”
Boycott work for absence of PPEs
In an earlier statement, the association advised its members to withdraw from facilities where personal protective equipment is not available for the discharge of their duties.
The Association also urged Government to “immediately explore the possibilities of collaborating with researchers at the Universities to at least restructure and resource the Public Health Laboratories, Teaching Hospital Laboratories and selected laboratories at the country’s borders with state-of-the-art portable PCR devices and certified biosafety cabinets to enable them test COVID-19 suspected samples.”