Official data shows that some 168 Ghanaian nurses and 70 medical doctors have tested positive for the deadly Covid-19 coronavirus. The fate of these frontline workers still hangs in the balance, Whatsup News gathered.
The Ghana Medical Association and the Ghana Registered Nurses Association (GRNA) have confirmed these disturbing numbers.
Out of the total infection of the scarce medical personnel, three have already died, including two medical doctors and one nurse who were said to be having underlying health conditions.
The situation appears to be escalating as it threatens the grossly understaffed medical personnel in the country. The General Secretary of GRNA), David Tenkorang Twum, the figures keep soaring and they are not surprising in view of the exposed nature of nurses on the field with most working without Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
“The figures keep rising, we are not surprised because people are not listening. As we speak, we have about 168 nurses and midwives being infected, both public and private” he told Joy News monitored by MyNewsGh.com
He further explained that “Now the trajectory of the disease condition is changing, and as you may recall we used to do effective contact tracing and the rest of it. Now what we have observed is that people are reporting to the hospital with the disease… if you like they come either assytomatically or sytomatically,” Mr. Tenkorang said.
“Because we don’t do on the spot diagnosis they will be admitted onto the ward, and I’m telling you that unless we change the narratives or the way we manage our patients, we are going to have a lot of nurses and doctors, and other supporting staff getting infected. The people are admitted to the ward with ordinary cases but by the time you could say jack it turns COVID-19”