Stop spreading fear and panic - GHS warns media

Effah

January 30, 2016 8:46 AM

Over 100 cases have been reported across the country and so far, over 32 people have lost their lives to the disease.

The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has cautioned the media to stop spreading fear and panic among the citizenry regarding the outbreak of the meningitis disease.

Head of Surveillance at the GHS, Dr. Franklin Asiedu Bekoe said constantly reporting the detection of a few cases in an area is the cause of the panic being experienced in the country.

Speaking in an interview on Radio Ghana, Dr. Asare Bekoe stressed that “Ghana is very safe…the fact that you have reported one case in an area doesn’t constitute the threat that you are talking about.”

“One case does not constitute an outbreak…One case of meningitis shouldn’t cause so much panic… Let’s not spread so much panic that there is one case here and there is one case there because averagely, we have about a 1,000 cases in Ghana yearly…so one case in a locality shouldn’t create panic,” he explained.

The first case was recorded in the Brong Ahafo Region in December 2015 and has since spread to seven other regions with the latest being the Greater Accra Region.

The Ministry of Health Organized a press conference to announce the steps it was taking to address the health problem.

The Ministry also assured Ghanaians that personnel in the health sector were effectively handling the outbreak but these assurances seem to have not succeeded in calming the fears of Ghanaians.

According to Dr. Asare Bekoe, “meningitis is somehow endemic in Ghana…so it is not that it was absent in Ghana and it has appeared.”

He indicated that his outfit is on “high alert to make sure that every case of meningitis that occurs in a locality is detected and treated.”

“We are not saying that it’s not a dangerous disease but what we are saying is that the presence of one case of meningitis does not constitute an outbreak. Ghanaians must be allayed of the fears and panic,” he added.

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