DDP Lord Nii Boye Tagoe
Reported cases of tuberculosis have been increasing significantly in the Kumasi Central Prison lately, thereby, causing nightmares for managers of the facility.
DDP Lord Nii Boye Tagoe, the Ashanti Regional Prisons Commander, who made the disclosure, could not readily provide the number of prisoners hit by tuberculosis so far.
He, however, stated that the numbers are alarming, indicating that the disease is particularly rampant in the remand section which now has 400 people instead of 100 inmates.
He pointed out that the tuberculosis menace was worrying, adding that the issue had been reported to the authorities concerned in the region for suitable solution.
“We have informed the Ashanti Regional Health Directorate and the Ashanti regional minister about the increasing tuberculosis cases and they are taking steps to help deal with it.”
DDP Nii Boye Tagoe was speaking to journalists when Holistic Foundation Ghana, a non-governmental organisation, organised a health screening for inmates of the prison.
He lamented that the prison ideally houses 800 inmates, but the facility is now housing a staggering 1,758 inmates, and this causes congestion, with its attendant health issues.
DDP Tagoe added that plans were underway to establish a fully-furnished laboratory in the Kumasi Central Prison so that inmates could be screened before being admitted.
The move, he explained, is intended to know the health conditions of all the inmates so as to make it easier for managers of the facility to work to boost their health conditions whilst serving their sentences.
DDP Tagoe also disclosed that the GH ¢1. 80p feeding fee per day for each prisoner is meager, so he appealed to the public to assist the government in taking proper care of the prisoners.
FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi