CSM is killing more of my constituents than Coronavirus – Alban Bagbin cries

The Member of Parliament (MP) for the Nadwoli Kaleo constituency in the Upper West Region, Alban Bagbin, has raised alarm over the increasing deaths caused by Cerebrospinal Meningitis (CSM) as he calls on the Ministry of Health to give some attention to the growing number of cases in the country.

According to him, Cerebrospinal Meningitis (CSM) epidemic has killed more constituents in his area than coronavirus in the country adding that his region is under serious attack by an invisible enemy.

A number of 33 people have been reported dead after suffering meningitis related symptoms in Ghana’s Upper West Region.

The Nadowli District recorded 74 cases with 12 deaths while the Nandom Municipality also has 76 cases with 10 fatalities.

The Jirapa Municipality follows with 42 cases, out of which nine people died.

Speaking on this development, the Member of Parliament for Nadwoli Kaleo constituency, Alban Bagbin said, “We are not only having COVID-19. We are also having the CSM epidemic and it has slowly killed more of my constituents than what COVID-19 has done for the whole country. So we are under serious attack by invisible enemies. Usually, on a daily basis, I ask from the director of health services in the district and he says that CSM has different traits discovered from the lab in Tamale and not just one. We don’t have a lab in the whole region to work on the samples so usually, we send it to Tamale”.

In the last two weeks, the total number of persons infected with Cerebrospinal Meningitis in the Upper West Region has increased from 214 to 247.

Some residents in the region are also calling on government to immediately release vaccines for Cerebrospinal Meningitis while they call on other stakeholders to come their aid.

Upper West Region Disease Control Officer, Justina Zoyah-Diedong, said the deceased were aged 11 and above.

According to Mrs Zoyah-Diedong, the cases could increase due to the dry condition which causes the spread of the disease. She adds that can prevail until it starts raining somewhere next month.

Meanwhile the Ashanti Region has also recorded three deaths so far.