The Medical team of the New Patriotic Party has called on the government to reconsider her decision to call back retired health Professionals to help with the COVID-19 fight in case of serious outbreak in Ghana.
The medical team made this call in a press statement they released 26th March, 2020 signed by Mr. Albert Opoku (MPHIL, FGCNM, RN).
The group, made up of medical professionals insist people within the retirement age bracket are more susceptible to the pandemic than the youth. “Our suggestion is based on the most available statistics from several studies pointing to the fact that the morbidity and mortality rate of Covid 19 is very high among the aged above 60 years”.
Their research revealed that the disease is killing people over 65 years at a much higher rate than younger groups. “According to Prof. Walter Ricciardi, scientific adviser to Italy’s Minister of Health, the country’s mortality rate is far higher due to demographics – the nation has the second oldest population worldwide” their statement revealed.
They suggested that government rather makes use of young medically trained professionals in the COVID-19 fight. “Instead of recalling the vulnerable health professionals to fight Covid 19, let us mobilize all the health professionals who are still waiting for financial clearance both private and government trained for the situation at hand and the huge task ahead of us. These are youthful professional and have high immunity against Covid 19 as per all researches done so far.”
“We are suggesting again to MOH to have a team that would research into all the confirmed cases to improve the knowledge of Covid 19 in Ghanaian terms since morphology of the disease in Sub-Saharan Africa may not be the same as other parts of the world to help us manage the pandemic better” the statement said.
They entreated all Ghanaians to stay calm and follow all the measures put in place by the government and Ministry of Health in order to stay safe.
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