Coronavirus: Fear grips health workers

Out of Ghana’s 205 COVID-19 cases, three of them are health workers working in the major hospitals.

The first health worker to test positive for COVID-19 was a medical doctor working at the Ledzokuku Municipal (LEKMA) Hospital at Teshie in Accra.

The second is an Anaesthetist at the Greater Accra Regional Hospital.

The third is a nurse at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.

All contracted the disease toward the end of March and have since not recovered.

According to the Herald newspaper, frontline health workers at Korle Bu have threatened to lay down their tools if the government of Ghana does not provide any proper isolation centers as well as Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) to aid them work effectively.

The paper noted that these health workers who have tested positive are being treated in their private homes leaving many in a state of shock.

The paper reported:

"The CEO of Korle Bu told the media in Accra, 'It’s true a nurse here has tested positive for COVID-19 and we’re tracing the primary source. The infected staff has our full support….' Dr Daniel Asare, said and sought to allay fears of other health workers insisting that ‘there’s insurance available too for all the Staff so no fears.’"

The CEO continued:

“Our Staff who tested positive for COVID-19 is in home management and everything [is ] being catered for…. We’re rigorously working on the recovery."

At Ridge Hospital (Greater Accra Regional Hospital), the management of the health facility claims none of its staff has contracted the virus locally but rather the infected specialist brought the virus from South Africa.

“Currently no frontline staff has tested positive as safety measures have been put in place to ensure that no staff gets affected,” the management said in a statement.

Meanwhile, health workers in Ghana through their professional associations keep complaining about lack of PPEs and adequate arrangements in the handling and treatment of COVID-19 cases in country but the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service (GHS) have not shown that they are addressing these concerns.



Situation globally

Sixty-one doctors and other healthcare professionals died of COVID-19 in Italy, one of the countries worst hit by the coronavirus pandemic so far. Italy has 11,591 deaths as of March 30, according to the Johns Hopkins coronavirus resource center of the USA.

A list of clinicians who have died during the COVID-19 epidemic has been compiled by Italy's National Federation of Orders of Surgeons and Dentists (FNOMCeO) and is being updated daily.

“Our doctors have been sent to war unarmed,” Filippo Anelli, president of the federation, told the UK's Financial Times. He added: “The dead do not make a noise. Yet, the names of our dead friends, our colleagues, put here in black and white, make a deafening noise".

Anelli also highlighted the lack of personal protective equipment in a March 25 statement: “It is reasonable to assume that these events would have been largely avoidable if health workers had been correctly informed and equipped with sufficient adequate personal protective equipment: masks, gloves, disposable gowns, protective visors, which instead continue to be in short supply".

Nearly all of the doctors who have died were in northern Italy, where Italy's epidemic began.

In the UK, following the deaths of the first British doctors from COVID-19, pressure has mounted on the government for PPEs.

Ghanaweb prays for the speedy recovery of all health workers who have contracted COVID-19.

Speedy recovery.