The Advocacy for Medical Malpractice Victims (AMMV), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), focusing on patient safety and access to justice for medical malpractice victims, has observed that the lowering of patient safety standards during the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic has had dire consequences on the health of patients.
In a statement signed by the Executive Secretary, Mr. Kwame Brobbey Appiah, and copied to The Chronicle in Sunyani, the organisation observed that more people are dying from other diseases because they are afraid to visit the hospital as a result of the pandemic.
This, according to AMMV, is because of the fact that many diseases have symptoms which might mimic those of the Covid-19, and hence putting fear in people, thinking they might have been infected.
“The attention of majority of caregivers is focused on Covid-19 at the expense of other ailments which may have serious consequences on the survival of patients with potential life threatening diseases,” the statement said.
AMMV added that one major concern affecting the safety of patients during this pandemic is the issue of stigmatisation.
According to AMMV, most infected persons for fear of being stigmatised do not want to seek medical attention, and the integration of recovered persons back into the community has witnessed complex reactions from the public.
Mr. Brobbey Appiah, therefore, called on the health authorities to pay particular attention to the aforementioned issues and come out with pragmatic measures to tackle these matters.
Meanwhile, the Bono East Region’s Covid-19 case count has seen an increase from one to six. This was announced by the Bono East Regional Director of Health Services, Dr. Fred Adomako Boateng. According to him, the five additional cases are a result of targeted testing the health directorate has been conducting.
“Through some targeted testing that we are doing, we have detected five positive cases, bringing the total number to six in the whole Bono East Region. In fact, the results came in Sunday, May 31, 2020 morning, and we have been working around the clock to put in the necessary interventions to prevent any further spread.”
Dr. Boateng also disclosed that the Regional Health Directorate had commenced the contact tracing process with the hope of getting it done effectively.
“We started the process of contact tracing yesterday. We are still continuing, and definitely, we will be able to come up with a realistic number of people we have contacted,” he said.
The Bono East Region recorded its first Covid-19 case on Friday, May 29, 2020.
It became the 15th region in the country to record a case of the novel Coronavirus, leaving the Ahafo Region as the only region without a reported infection.
The case involves a commercial driver who plies Yeji in the Pru East District to the Ashanti Regional capital, Kumasi.
Ghana has recorded 227 more cases of Covid-19 as at May 31, increasing total confirmed cases to 8,297, the Ghana Health Service (GHS) announced on its Covid-19 website on Tuesday.
Two more persons also succumbed to the virus, taking the death toll to 38, while recoveries were up by 39 to 2,986.
Greater Accra remains Ghana’s epicentre with the highest count of 5,798 cases, while Ashanti went up to 1,263 cases.
The Western and Central regions have 436 and 410, respectively.
Eastern has 117, Volta 84, Western North 68, Northern 37, Oti 26, Upper East 26, and Upper West 22.
Bono East region has six; North East two, Savannah and Bono have one case each.
Ahafo is the only region, currently, without a recorded case of the Covid-19.
The post Low safety standards impeding Covid-19 fight -AMMV appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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