Executive Secretary of the Coalition of NGOs in the WASH
sector, Ben Arthur has warned that cholera cases and deaths in the country
would persist each year if the necessary steps are not taken. According to
him, the situation could only be managed if there is change in the curative
approach to dealing with the bacteria infection. “So far as it is an annual
occurrence; to the extent we are having numbers into hundreds and thousands,
then it means we have not done well,” he said. He therefore called for concerted
efforts from all stakeholders as the country strategizes to improve upon the
situation. Somewhere last week, reports showed that more than 3,000 cholera
cases had been recorded with 40 deaths in the Greater Accra region alone
since July. Sixteen (16) of the fatalities were recorded in just a week. A
total of 604 cases and eight deaths were recorded at the La General Hospital in
the same month, out of which three died just last week. The facility has been
over stretched with handling the increasing cholera cases. The cholera unit at
the infirmary was originally designed to cater for 13 patients but it received
far more than the approved number and therefore patients had to be treated on
benches and in chairs. At the Osu Korle Klottey area where the Ridge Hospital
and the Adabraka Polyclinic are located, a total of 426 cases were recorded in
July and in the early days of August, 202 cases had been chronicled.
Source:Joy
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