Dr Omane Boamah Condemns Gov’t For Failing To Protect Korle Bu Workers Against COVID-19

Dr Edward Kofi Omane Boamah

Accra, Ghana, April 3, 2020//-Former Minister of Communications, Dr Edward Kofi Omane Boamah has condemned the government for failing to protect workers of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital against the deadly coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the country.

According to him, the poor preparation and provision made for health workers including those at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital to protect them as they fight the COVID-19 disease prove that the government talks but little action.

Dr Omane Boamah who is also a medical doctor made this statement when doctors at the Accident and Emergency Department of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital had threatened to withdraw their service due to a lack of protection for staff fighting the disease.

The doctors at the country’s premier health facility said that there had generally been poor preparedness towards fighting the COVID-19.

In a memo to the heads of the department, they said the lack of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and other logistics were putting their lives at risk.

The doctors added that it was dangerous for a sideward at the department to be used as a COVID-19 isolation centre.

To this end, they have threatened to withdraw their services to patients if things do not improve.

“We will like to state, with no fear of equivocation that, if these measures are not put in place, we will be forced to stop attending to patients to the endangerment of the patients, ourselves, our loved ones, and Ghana as a whole,” a portion of the memo reads.

Korle Bu Teaching Hospital

The doctors have also demanded that the following demands be met: provision of appropriate PPEs; including N-95 face masks; provision of a proper isolation unit for suspected cases in lieu of the current sideward we use at ‘yellow’; expediting the testing of all staff of the department for SARS-Cov2; creating clear channels of communication between management and the staff of the department; in order to prevent the events surrounding the first confirmed case from happening again; and the immediate closure of the ER for fumigation.

Ghana has so far recorded 204 confirmed cases of COVD-19, 3 recoveries, 31 discharges and five deaths.

African Eye Report

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