Benjamin Opoku
Many people, who took part in the funeral of three out of four students, who lost their lives in the meningitis outbreak at the Kumasi Academy (KUMACA) in the Asokore-Mampong Municipality of the Ashanti Region, wept controllably.
Relations of the deceased- Prince Kodua, 15, Benjamin Opoku Acheampong, 18, and Samuel Okyere Kwabi Dapaah, 17, – could not hold back their tears, as they were joined by well-wishers at Asawasi in Kumasi, Offinso-Ahenkro and Kuntanase in the Bosomtwe District, to bid farewell to their sons.
While Benjamin’s burial was held at Asawasi, that of 15-year-old Prince Kodua and Samuel Okyere Kwabi Dapaah, were held at Suntans and Offinso-Ahenkro respectively.
At Asawasi, the mother of 18-year-old Benjamin Opoku Acheampong, Akua Pomaah, broke down in tears and had to be consoled by mourners at the venue.
The mortal remains of Form-Two Science Student, who wanted to become a medical doctor, was laid to rest days after he died mysteriously at home.
Benjamin and his colleagues, who were in the same dormitory, were taken ill on the campus of the school and referred to the school’s sickbay before they were sent home by the school’s authorities to die in similar fashion, thereby causing fear among the students and parents.
On Wednesday, officials said the four students died of meningitis contrary to food poisoning.
Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei Mensah, announced that health experts from Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) and the Ghana Health Service (GHS) discovered that the highly contagious disease was responsible for the deaths of the students.
According to the Minister, 26 suspected cases of meningitis were detected at the school from March 22 to 31, 2017 and that most of the remaining students were undergoing treatment.
The Minister indicated that appropriate measures had been put in place to detect the disease early and added that all second cycle schools in the region had been assigned hospitals by GHS for quick treatment.
From Ernest Kofi Adu, Kumasi