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COVID-19: No bed shortage in Ghana -GHS refutes claim
The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has stated that the country was yet to exceed its bed capacity for treatment of coronavirus (COVID-19) patients contrary to emerging reports of bed shortages at the centres.
“In terms of attainment of full bed capacity as a country, we can state that we have never exceeded our bed capacity as a country.
We started this process with a 450-bed capacity which has increased to 700 and at the moment, we have 71 treatment centres across the country with 21 of them, idle,” Director General of the GHS, Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye said in a statement on Wednesday.
The release which sought to clarify recent allegations that the Service was under-reporting and manipulating national data on the disease brought to light that the GHS was expanding the number of beds in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region specifically, to take care of mild to moderate cases and positive cases with co-morbidities.
“We are still not resting on our oars, we will continue to expand. We are working with the regions to increase the bed capacity for moderate to severe and critical cases. For instance, a 12-bed Intensive Care Unit wing is coming up at the Greater Accra Regional Hospital.
The largest isolation centre for those who are largely asymptomatic is the Pentecost Convention Centre located in Gomoa Fetteh with a bed capacity of 600 but as at June 16, 2020, we had 356 in-patients and the centre has never operated at maximum capacity,” the statement said.
As regards personal, protective equipment (PPE), Dr Kuma-Aboagye said the GHS had adopted systems including the “Logistic Information Management System” to monitor remotely, the availability of PPE at the district levels.
“Our concern however has been the more appropriate use of the PPE by health workers according to the level of risk they are exposed to and we are currently re-training health providers on infection prevention and control and most importantly, adherence to appropriate and consistent use of the PPE,” he noted.
The GHS in the statement explained that the recent spike in number of positive COVID-19 cases represented more of isolated reports in institutions and some localities rather than a general community spread.
While expressing concern over the trend, the release clarified that “the current number represents more of isolated spikes in localised institutions and localities and not a generalised diffused community spread.”
“It is worth noting three regions and 176 districts have not reported any new COVID-19 case in the last one week.”
Among other issues bordering on timely laboratory test results, means of discharge of recovered patients, contact tracers, safe re-opening of schools and increase in critical care staff, the GHS signalled its resolve to ensure the efficient use of resources for the overall wellbeing of Ghanaians amidst the pandemic.
“We wish to state categorically that the GHS does not manipulate the data collated from the regions. The reporting on data including deaths and recoveries at the national level goes beyond just numbers to include epidemiological and clinical states of cases and that requires a bit of more time to verify and validate.
In that context, the regional level data will normally be higher than the national data at any given time,” the Service cleared.
Pressure group, Occupy Ghana, had earlier this week raised concerns over the number of COVID-19 related deaths in the country, alleging that the government was under-reporting the death toll.
According to the group, the death toll from some regions does not correspond to the total number of deaths in the country accusing the GHS of “massaging” of numbers which could lead to mistrust among the public.
Source: Ghanaian Times
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UNODC partners GFA Foundation on Prison advocacy and mentorship programme
The GFA Foundation and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) have agreed to work together to advocate for anti-discrimination and the elimination of stigmatization for prisoners and prisons.
This partnership was agreed, in principle, during a meeting at the Home of Football (GFA Head Office) between the Director of the GFA Foundation and the UNODC Team led by Mr. Christoph Capelle, an Associate Expert in Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice and the Coordinator of the prison and penal reform project in Ghana.
Welcoming the Team to the Home of Football, the Director of the GFA Foundation, Mr. Malcolm Frazier Appeadu briefed the team about the GFA Foundation – Ghana Prisons Project which has covered 6 prisons across the country already.
He indicated that the Foundation is liaising with the Ghana Prisons Service to commence the second and third pillars of the project, which are the coaches and referees training programs as well as the advocacy and mentorship initiatives.
He said that the GFA Foundation will welcome partners for the execution of the second phase of the project which will include Ankaful Maximum Security Prison, Kumasi Central Prison, Sekondi Central Prison and three other prison facilities.
In his response, Mr. Christoph Capelle commended the GFA for the GFA Foundation – Ghana Prisons Project which seeks to use the power of football to promote the wellbeing, reformation, rehabilitation and reintegration of inmates of Ghana’s prisons into society.
Mr. Capelle said that UNODC is looking forward to a collaboration with the GFA Foundation on possible programs for both the medium and long term to support football and sports jobs and skills development in Ghana’s prisons.
He extended an invitation to the GFA Foundation to be part of an assessment of overall prison rehabilitation programmes including the use of sports by their international consultant at the Ankaful Maximum Security Prison.
There will be a football match and donation of footballs, sports items and equipment to the prison facility.
Present at the meeting were Mr. Kwame Koramoah, an officer at the GFA Foundation and Integrity Office, Helena Adobea Ofori, Associate Programme Officer, UNODC and Caleb Elorm Agodzo, Administrative Officer, UNODC.
It will be recalled that in 2020, The UNODC and FIFA signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to tackle corruption and crime in and through sports and pledged to consider ways in which football can be used as a vehicle to strengthen youth resilience to crime and substance use through the provision of life skills training.
The MOU was renewed last year by FIFA President Gianni Infantino and UNODC Executive Director Ghada Waly in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
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Gomoa West: NPP, NDC supporters clash over commissioning of DRIP equipment
Supporters of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) on Monday morning clashed over the commissioning of machinery for the District Road Infrastructure Project in the Gomoa West District of the Central Region.
According to Citi News sources, the conflict began when NDC supporters questioned the decision to display images of Bismark Basie Nkum, the NPP’s Gomoa West parliamentary candidate on the DRIP machinery.
This disagreement quickly escalated, almost leading to a physical altercation between the two groups.
Baisie Nkum, who doubles as the District Chief Executive (DCE) for Gomoa West, further claimed that the Member of Parliament for the area, Richard Gyan Mensah, brandished a pistol and issued threats against the NPP’s local leadership.
A viral video circulating on social media captured the DCE accusing MP Richard Gyan Mensah of pulling out a gun and threatening NPP supporters during the heated incident.
Source: Citinewsroom.com
