Cholera catches up with Upper East/West

Friday 3rd October , 2014 3:51 pm

Two out of the three regions that were not affected by the cholera outbreak, Upper East and West Region have also recorded some cases.

The only region so far without any recorded case is the Northern Region.

This was revealed by the Deputy Minister of Health Dr. Victor Bampoe in an interview on the Citi Breakfast Show on Friday.

The Minister also revealed that the number of recorded cases across the country has jumped from 10,000 to over 18,000, recorded in 96 districts.

The only region which has not had any recorded case so far is in the Northern Region.

Dr. Bampoe indicated that government is very worried about the situation which prompted the setting up of an inter-ministerial group to help fight the disease.

The group has membership from the Minister of Water, Resources, Works and Housing, the Ministry of Local Government, the Ministry of Health and National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO).

According to him the Ministry of Health has been tasked to properly manage all cholera cases, “trace the contacts within the communities so that when they go back, they won’t go and get re-infected and come back.”

He noted that poor personal hygiene, poor environmental sanitation, lack of safe and potable water are the main causes of the disease, adding that the government is doing its possible best to provide basic amenities to protect the environment and citizens.

Dr. Bampoe remarked that solely blaming government for the outbreak of the disease is unfair adding that, “there is more than enough blame to go around when it comes to cholera.”

“We are not happy about it at all and we think that it’s not something that has to be happening now. Cholera is being taken seriously at the very highest levels. What we want to do right now is to curtail and to stop right now,” he added.

The cholera outbreak began in July 2014 and it has so far claimed about 150 lives.

The situation overburdened health facilities especially in the Greater Accra Region where the outbreak began.

The Greater Accra Regional Health Directorate has however announced a significant decrease in reported cholera cases.

By: Efua Idan Osam/citifmonline.com/Ghana