<<Print>>

The President of Ghana Medical Association (GMA), Dr. Frank Ankobea has pleaded with the National Identification Authority (NIA) to suspend its registration exercise in the Eastern Region as it can be an avenue for the spread of the Coronavirus in the country.

According to him, as frontline workers who are most affected in the event of disease outbreak such as the coronavirus, it is their responsibility to caution the nation against anything that can foster the spread of the coronavirus in the country as they fall victim in most cases, taking care of the affected ones.

“In the outbreak of pandemic diseases like this, we are the frontline workers and so looking at the nature of the coronavirus disease which has reached the country, the only thing we can do is to contain the coronavirus and not spread beyond the number we have recorded in the country”, he stated.

“…so anything that can foster the spread of the coronavirus in the country, we have to stop it and so we praised the President for boldly putting measures in place to curtail the spread of the COVID-19 in the country by closing schools, churches, mosques and other public gatherings as these will help to stop the spread of the disease”.

He added that the warning from the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) to the National Identification Authority (NIA) is such that adherent to the warning will put the health workers at peace and reduce undue pressure, trying to fight the novel coronavirus.

“If the disease does not spread, the health workers will be at peace and it will not put undue pressure on us trying to fight a virus we have no knowledge of and that is why we have realized that the NIA registration can foment mayhem for the country and if we don’t take care, we will end up saying ‘had I know’ and by that time it will be too late for us and so any sign which can possibly cause the spread of the virus, we have to caution the public about it and that is why we are pleading with the NIA to suspend the registration exercise for a while as the President has stated for all other activities to be put on hold for a month to monitor the spread of the virus and contain it so that it does not spread in Ghana and after we have contained it, NIA all the time to continue with the registration”, he pleaded.

Dr. Frank Ankobea, however, called for the need to weigh the health of Ghanaians above the registration exercise which is being carried out by the National Identification Authority (NIA), pleading with the authority to prioritize the well-being of the citizens before considering the registration later.

“All we can do is to give caution for Ghanaians to see that we warned against the action of the NIA. We cannot go and seize the equipment of the NIA and we cannot either go and drive the people away from the registration centers; all we can do is to warn the people. We will plead with the NIA to suspend the registration for now and when we contain the coronavirus, they can continue with the registration”, he pleaded.