Ghana Border to Togo in Upper East has no Port Health Station

By Jerry Azanduna, GNA

Pulimakom (UE) Mar. 17, GNA - The Ghana Border to Togo in the Upper East Region has no Port health station raising alarm, creating fear among residence in the area, that persons carrying the coronavirus will easily enter the country.

The border, situated at the Eastern part of the region has no health check materials including; port health officials, instruments such as infrared thermometers, hand gloves and sanitizers, face masks and quarantine rooms for suspected victims of the virus.

This was disclosed on Monday when the Ghana News Agency (GNA) visited the Pulimakom border in the Widana Sub-District of the Pusiga district in the Upper East Region, to ascertain its preparedness to prevent people infected by the virus from entering the country. 

Alhaji Taminu Alhassan, the Senior Revenue officer- Custom Division, at the border confirmed the situation and said the border had no port health station and that made it difficult to screen people who enter the country through that point.

He said based on the scary nature of the virus, the border officials including; the Ghana Immigration Service and the Widana health Centre stationed a disease control officer at the border to manually check travellers with his hands, which he said was not enough to deal with the situation.

The officer said even though government was making efforts to fight the virus, lack of health personnel at the borders could be a threat to preventing the virus from entering the area.

Assistant Superintendent of Immigration (ASI) Mr David Ansah, Officer In charge of Immigration at the border said his outfit was provided with hand gloves and face masks and reiterated the need to have Port health officers and equipment for the screening.  

Mr Ansah said his men were on the ground blocking all unapproved routes to ensure people did not use them to import the virus into the country.

He said the two stationed border security apparatus had embarked on mass education on the virus to residents in and around the border, on how to prevent the virus from spreading.

Mr Braimah Ouedraogo Abdu-Rahaman, a resident of Bawku expressed worry over the state at which health officials were handling the preventive aspect of the disease and called on stakeholders to put proactive measures including; provision of face masks to everyone in the Bawku area since it was a border town.

At Mognori, a mini-border in the Bawku Municipality, there was a port health Station and the officers were busy checking and screening travelers with an infrared thermometer.

Madam Faustina Akunaba, a Senior Port Health officer at the border said since the outbreak of the virus, her station had not recorded any suspected case and that she was prepared to confine any case and report to the hospital in Bawku for further investigations.

She disclosed that since the outbreak of the virus, they had screened over 1,000 people who commuted through the border into the country.

GNA

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