A scene during the conference
The Ghana Medical Association (GMA) has expressed worry over road accidents, which according to the association, is killing more people than the coronavirus pandemic.
The association has therefore called on government to do all it can to reverse the situation.
The GMA dwelt on this subject and the dangers of illegal mining during its 63rd Annual General Meeting in Sunyani because of their negative impact on society, the theme for the meeting being  ‘The Menace of Our Time: Road Traffic Accidents and Galamsey.’
Addressing members of the association and other invited persons, the President of the association, Dr. Frank Ankobea said members are worried about how road traffic accidents continue to kill Ghanaians, most of the dead being within the age bracket of 15 and 24 years.
Supporting his case with statistics, Dr. Fred Ankobea quoted the Motor Transport and Traffic Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service details which showed that between January and September this year, 2,126 Ghanaians were killed in road accidents and another 11, 585 sustained varying degrees of injuries compared to COVID-19 death toll of 1,188 since the pandemic.
Factors contributing to these psychopathic numbers according to the MTTD are drink driving, fatigue driving, careless driving, speeding, wrongful overtaking, poor vision, and mobile phone use while driving, he said.
He also blamed the emergence of tricycles (Aboboyaa and Pragya) for aggravating the issue due to total disregard for road traffic regulations by their operators.
Dr. Fred Ankobea therefore congratulated the Greater Accra Regional Minister for banning tricycles on highways in Accra and called on other ministers in other regions to do same.
Dr. Fred Ankobea further urged the Road and Highway Ministry to be up and doing by removing unapproved speed ramps on the roads, urging that proper road designs placed on highways.
Apart from road accidents that are claiming lives, the GMA also expressed worry over the issue of illegal mining, popularly called galamsey, and said it was causing chronic illnesses.
The Presidential Advisor on Health, Dr. Anthony Nsiah- Asare also lamented about road accidents and called on all to support government to reverse the trend.
The keynote address was delivered by Professor Fred Binka, the Foundation Vice-Chancellor of the University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ho.
He said though the country’s health systems (hospitals and personnel) were the first point of call after accidents (death and injuries), health personnel were normally not involved in the decision-making concerning factors that cause accidents.
If health personnel are involved in decision-making in this regard, they will make valuable inputs.
FROM Daniel Y Dayee, SunyaniÂ
danielyaodayee@yahoo.com