Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah (left) handing over some Veronica buckets to some DCEs in the region
Test results from blood samples taken from seven persons suspected to have contracted the deadly coronavirus (COVID-19) in the Western Region have proven negative.
The seven showed possible symptoms of the disease and their samples were taken to the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research at Legon, Accra, for analysis.
Dr. Kofi Asamaning-Mensah, Deputy Director of Public Health in the Western Region, disclosed this at the launch of the Western Regional Public Education Campaign on the coronavirus disease.
They used the occasion to distribute Veronica buckets and hand sanitizers as well as other items to market queens and transport unions across the region in a bid to prevent the spread of the disease.
“All the seven suspected cases sent for testing had proven negative. However, there is one pending but there is no cause for alarm in the region,” he pointed out.
He said all the necessary measures needed to protect health officials as well as patients that attended the health facilities had been put in place.
He praised the government for the provision of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) but said they were inadequate and that government should take steps to supplement what local hospitals had in stock.
Dr. Asamaning-Mensah indicated that majority of the health officers had been trained and that isolation centres had also been created in health facilities all over the region in preparedness for any eventuality.
He added that screening points had been mounted at the entrance of Out Patient Departments at all hospitals and holding places created to isolate infected persons from the public.
Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, the Western Regional Minister, called on all Ghanaians to carefully observe the directives given by the President in containing the disease.
He said there was also no need for fear and panic among the populace once all the precautionary measures were correctly adhered to, adding “we need to avoid any ultimate shutdown of the country by the President and that is the more reason we need to undergo all these serious preparations.”
Barbara Oteng-Gyasi, the Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture, advised market women to start practising shift systems as a key measure of crowd control in the wake of the deadly pandemic.
“For instance, tomatoes sellers can come in tens to the market and rotate trading throughout the week as we observe the social distancing,” she added.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Sekondi