Dr. Bernard Oko-Boye
A Deputy Health Minister-designate, Dr. Bernard Oko-Boye says Ghana’s confirmed cases of coronavirus would have been in thousands by now if government had not taken the required measures to stem the rapid spread.
According to him, the border closure, mandatory quarantine, isolation and imposition of restrictions on movements, social distancing and hand washing measures have helped to slow the spread of the disease.
Answering questions during his vetting by the Parliament’s Appointments Committee, the nominee said the 636 confirmed cases were unavoidable transmissions and insisted that “Instead of getting sad by the number, we should be encouraged because these people did not come to hospitals all, but due to the nation’s aggressive testing programme.”
Dr. Oko-Boye stated that there is no need for people to be alarmed about the absolute numbers because they came to the fore due to the aggressive testing nature, unlike other African countries.
The Deputy Minister-designate said the call for a total lockdown would have to be looked at in the context of occurrence since every escalation of measures must be connected to an occurrence.
He called on the public to continue to adhere to the health safety measures put in place, adding that it is good to live long.
On medication, Dr. Oko-Boye said people’s attitude tend to change when they are educated on the effect on drugs.
“When you have a nice conversation with patients and explain to them what each medicine does, their attitude towards the drugs change and their compliance level becomes high,” he stressed.
He indicated he decided to write a book on what causes blood pressure and why certain drugs are prescribed for high blood pressure patients.
“So I wanted to have a book that once you can read and right, should you finish reading the book you know what blood pressure is and why a doctor will ask you to take a particular drug.”
By Ernest Kofi Adu, Parliament House