MPs urge gov’t to prevent outbreak of coronavirus in Ghana

Members of Parliament (MPs) have urged government to intensify systems meant to prevent the spread of the deadly coronavirus into the country.

Ghana has not yet recorded the disease which has claimed several lives in China and other parts of the world.

Members of Parliament for Ledzokuku and Nabdam are some of the few who spoke on the issue in the House on Wednesday.

“I don’t believe there is a cause for alarm. We only need to prepare ourselves adequately. Mr. Speaker, the symptoms are not any different from common cold. You’re going to have a cough, headaches and sometimes joint pains. The only exception here is that sometimes the symptoms might be severe and the essence of speaking to this condition is to alert health personnel so that they will have a suspicion index so that they can pin corona as soon as possible. Once they suspect and investigate, we’d have supportive treatment,” said MP for Ledzokuku, Dr Bernard Okoe Boye.

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Nabdam MP, Dr Mark Kurt Nawaane stating what has been done so far to as far as preventive measures are concerned said: “the Ministry of Health has issued statements calling on all Ghanaians to prevent the virus from entering the country and putting all regional and district healthcare officials on alert. There is also surveillance at all entry points in the country. At the airports, residents coming from China undergo special screening processes and Ghanaian traders travelling to China have been asked to postpone their trips if possible.”

The Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu had earlier also asked Parliament to summon the Health Minister over the deadly virus.

“We may want to in the course of this meeting invite the Health Minister to apprise us of what he is doing to avoid the occurrence of the Coronavirus in our country.”

He made this call during the opening of the 4th session of the 7th Parliament of the 4th Republic on Tuesday.

About Coronavirus

The virus, known also as 2019-nCoV, is said to be a new strain of coronavirus that has not previously been identified in humans.

The total number of confirmed cases has over 4,500.

Measures put in place in Ghana 

The Ministry of Health announced that all passengers from China who come to Ghana will undergo enhanced screening and surveillance to prevent the spread of the new Coronavirus.

The Ministry of Health subsequently designated the Ridge Hospital and the Tema General Hospital as centres to manage possible cases of coronavirus in the country.

It said the move is part of Ghana’s plans to prevent and control any case that may be detected in the country and ultimately protect the Ghanaian population.