Meningitis death: Segebfia must go - PPP

Health Minister Alex Segbefia must be sacked by President John Mahama if he fails to resign voluntarily in the event that one more person dies from the Meningitis outbreak, the Progressive People’s Party has said.

The disease has killed 93 people so far, with cases recorded in all the regions of Ghana except the Central region. At least 548 people have been affected in total.

The Health Ministry said on Monday February 15 that the disease had reached epidemic proportions in the Brong Ahafo region where it first broke.

In a statement issued by the PPP and signed by National Secretary Murtala Mohammed, the party said any more deaths must cost Mr Segbefia his job.

“President Mahama should not give us reason to believe that he does not care about the lives of Ghanaians. We are, therefore, demanding that the Minister of Health must work with a sense of urgency to ensure that no more lives are lost to this preventable disease. We are calling for the dismissal of the Health Minister if he does not resign after one more death is recorded,” the statement said.

“When the Minister appeared before parliament to explain his plans to secure lives in the affected regions, he was engaged in operational definitions of epidemiology and related scientific platitudes. How did he expect those definitions to stop the spread of the disease? At that time we had recorded 83 deaths and this has jumped to 93. We prefer his resignation to the loss of the 94th person. The Minister has failed to save Ghanaian lives and he must resign if another person dies. After all, one life is far more precious and valuable than the GHS3.6million bus branding saga!”

Meanwhile, the party has extended its “heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families who have lost their loved ones as a result of the outbreak of meningitis in Ghana”.

“We are completely devastated,” the PPP said, adding: “We commend the Ghana Health Service for intensifying their monitoring activities, field investigations and supplying antibiotics to affected patients. We believe that government must provide adequate funding to ensure that the disease is controlled. We cannot continue to count the number of people killed by this disease on a daily basis and not act with any seriousness.

“Ghana must learn from best practices to ensure the safety of every Ghanaian. The Florida Governor Rick Scott declared a state of emergency in five Florida counties due to the Zika virus.

“This is a national health emergency issue and we cannot continue to pretend…the disease is under control when on a daily basis we are losing Ghanaian lives.

“Mr Alex Segbefia must stop the Meningitis now or resign if he does not have the necessary capacity to curb the menace,” the statement added.