Dr. Ofori Yeboah addressing the media
The Western Regional Director of the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Yaw Ofori Yeboah, says victims of the Apiate explosion are receiving free treatment for various degrees of injuries at various hospitals across the region.
The move is in compliance with a declaration by Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia during his visit to the victims on Friday, January 21, to the effect that government would bear all the medical expenses of the victims.
He said arrangements have been made for the reimbursement of cost incurred by the various health facilities that are taking care of the 348 victims of the Apiate explosion which also displaced hundreds of residents.
Dr. Ofori Yeboah made this known at an emergency press briefing held at the Regional Health Directorate at Sekondi in the Western Region.
He said already a directive has been given to fully refund, payment by relatives of two of the victims who paid some monies for the procurement of some medical items which had run out during the emergency.
He said currently his outfit is collating expenditure from all health facilities where victims were taken care of, for immediate reimbursement.
“As you can imagine, in the early stage of the emergency, the focus was on ensuring that blood and other critical life-saving items were mobilised for the injured.”
“We are now collating expenditures from the various health facilities for immediate reimbursement,” he stated.
Current State Of Victims
On the conditions of victims, Dr. Ofori Yeboah said most of them are in stable condition. According to him, all but two out of the 348 cases seen have either been discharged or stable in the hospitals.
Dr. Ofori Yeboah added that a health post has been set up at the internally displaced persons site at Bogoso to provide essential primary health care services and psycho-social support.
He added that a team of Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) specialists have been sent to conduct hearing assessment whilst disease surveillance activities are also ongoing.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi