The Member of Parliament for Damongo Constituency in the Northern Region has blamed the mysterious deaths at Kumasi Academy Senior High School (KUMACA) to overcrowding as a result of the Free Senior High School policy by the government.
Mutawakilu Adam said the issue is a cause to worry because student population has increased leading to the spread of the illness and subsequent deaths.
The Minister of Health, Kweku Agyemang Manu, is expected to brief Parliament on Friday on happenings at the school which have seen a total of 11 students die – since April – following a suspected outbreak of meningitis The situation has created fear and panic in the school. Technical teams from the Ministry of Health and World Health Organization (WHO) were dispatched to the school on Tuesday to investigate the cause of death.
Commenting on the issue on TV3’s New Day on Wednesday, the MP for Damongo said: “The overcrowding [in the school] might have caused the deaths”. “It is an epidemic and it is a cause for worry and by now, the Ghana Health Service should have set up an emergency unit in the school. We needed to have an emergency unit there for quick response.”
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) legislator added: “In the state of panic and fear…you don’t know whether it is as a result of congestion. So it is good parents went in to take their wards. If you have your ward under your care, you can take him to any proper hospital for treatments”.
He said the development will have a “psychological effect” on both parents and students. But the MP for Sekondi Constituency in the Western Region, Andrew Kofi Egyapa Mercer, who was also on the programme, disagreed with his colleague on his assertions that the illness was as a result of overcrowding in the school.
“It cannot be the case that the issue is related to overcrowding due to the free SHS. It is only better that we leave it to the professionals to conduct their investigations so that students can go back to the school after the closure,” the MP suggested.
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) MP said even though parents are in a dilemma, the decision taken by the health authorities to vaccinate the students before they leave the school is the best. “The parents are saddened with a dilemma. It is a huge dilemma but the decision by the school authorities and health experts have taken is the best,” Mr. Mercer added.
‘Psychological trauma’
A Senior Lecturer at the University of Education, Winneba, in the Central Region, Dr. Ahmed Jinapor, was furious about the lukewarm habit of leaders in the country. He said it has become a norm in the country that whenever an issue occurs, a committee is set up but its reports are not implemented. “We are in the state of confusion because the issue started since March 2017. What has been the report? Did the people go to sleep? That is our nature,” the lecturer stressed.
“The psychological trauma the students and teachers are going through is huge. They are still in a state of panic so let’s try and get this illness contained because they made contacts between teachers and the students”.
The Lecturer does not understand why the school is situated in the heart of Kumasi yet such illness has not been able to be contained since March this year. “KUMACA is in good condition.
It has good and best infrastructure. It is not Damongo SHS. It is not Bongo SHS. Look at where it is situated. It is closer to Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital but they still can’t contain it and that is serious.”
Source: 3news.com
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eya won gye mboadze ai. eben rubbish nyi?
OF ALL JOKES, THIS COMMENT IS UNPARLIAMENTARY. HE SHOULD BE DRAGGED BEFORE THE PRIVILEGES COMMITTEE. VERY UNPATRIOTIC, INSENSITIVE AND DISCRIMINATORY TO OTHER GHANAIANS WHO HAVE BECOME BENEFICIARIES OF THE SHS PROGRAMME OTHER THAN HIS TRIBES MEN AND WOMEN WHO HAVE BENEFITED FROM THE SAME PROGRAMME FOR WELL OVER 60 YEARS. IT IS A BIG SHAME.
SO DOES MY THE PAYMENT OF MY TAX GO TO SERVICE THE PAYMENT OF THIS DISHONOURABLE'S SALARY, PER DIEM, PROVISION OF 4 X X VEHICLE, FUEL, EX-GRATIA, OUTSIDE TRAVELS, ACCOMMODATION ETC.ETC.? GOD HAVE MERCY ON THIS COUNTRY. I CAN'T THINK FAR ONLY MA*NESS.
I WILL NOT SURPRISED THAT IF IT RAINS DURING AN UNEXPECTED DAY, MAHAMA AND HIS ndc WILL BLAME FREE SHS. EVEN IF THEY GET A MOSQUITO BITE, THEY WILL BLAME FREE SHS. OH ndc SO ANY FUUUULLLL CAN BE AN ndc MP.
Jesus Christ!!!! is this thing also a human being? look at the mouth and the face in general. Only in NDC !!!1
AFEDI KWAKU IF THIS YOUR SUBMISSION IS TRUE THEN YOUR PARTY NDC AND ONAPO JDM IS BEHIND THIS CRISIS IN KUMAKA SPIRITUALLY AND PHYSICALLY PERIOD; BUT I DECREE AND DECLARE THAT THE FIRE OF GOD SHALL DESTROY ALL YOUR EVIL, DEMONIC, WITCHCRAFT, OCCULT AND DEVILISH WORKS BY FIRE, BY THUNDER AND BY FORCE IN THE MIGHTY NAME OF JESUS CHRIST AMEN. NO BAGGAR WIRE SHAME UNTO YOU NDC PARTY PLUS ONAPO JDM.
So why always politics? Maybe ur brothers and sisters are not part of the departed souls so display ur ignorance and just remember ebola. And let me stated here also that if free school is anything to go by then why all kayaye,s are from north? So please lets talk to issues and stop tribalism and politizisation of everything in ghana including those critizising free shs.
left to the ndc alone everyone shd stay home and not go to school. this free shs policy is giving them sleepless nights bcos they cant understand how npp can implement such an ambitious policy. something they can never do. someone shd pls tell them to stop worrying themselves bcos they are not coming back to power anymore, so it wont be their problem. very soon they will blame their impotence on free shs.
There they go again. Last it was Ofridzato Ablakwa who said Four Girls have gotten themselves pregnant because of Free SHS. Now it is Free SHS causing the deaths of students of Kumaca. Why can't our MPs in the NDC make sense in their submissions for once? Surely, the Free SHS, a major pro-poor policy is really hunting the create, l-oo-t and sha-re party. they are just acting like devils that are being hunted by the Holy Spirit through intercessory prayers. Aduro akyere w)n.
Nana should do all he can to sustain the Free SHS because NDC is having sleepless nights over fulfillment this campaign promise. It has dazed NDC to date. But it is too late. I wonder what message it will sell to Ghanaians in the 2020 elections.