The Public Relations Officer of the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA), Joseph Krampah, has revealed that some medical personnel in the Brong Ahafo have to wash and re-use their surgical masks which is dangerous.
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According to him, these are disposal masks but health workers are forced to re-use them because of the unavailability of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) in some of these peripheral health centers.
Speaking in an interview on Happy98.9FM’s Happy Morning Show he said, “Government needs to provide all peripheral health facilities with PPEs because we still come into contact with people daily. Even from where I am in Brong Ahafo, we lack these equipment. I don’t think it is best for some of us to wash surgical face masks and re use them when clearly, they are meant for one time use. Reports from Upper East suggest some of these facilities do not even have surgical masks and this is sad and dangerous.”
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On his authority the government is only paying attention to the COVID-19 treatment centers and providing them with some PPEs but has totally ignored other peripheral health facilities. “These PPEs are called protective for a reason, an indication that one does not have to be infected before measures are taken”, he noted.
He stated that if the government has some of these PPEs stashed somewhere, now is the time for them to be distributed to all health facilities including CHIPS compounds and to all hospital staff. “We want to do the work but we can’t do it properly with these fears lingering. All health personnel need PPEs no matter where they are stationed,” he said.
He acknowledged the efforts of the government so far but still insisted that there was a lot to be done to ensure the welfare of frontline workers which included every health personnel. “The virus has brought a lot of changes to our work and this is a time we need to be protected the most. The initiatives carried out by the government and other institutions have been great but we need more support for our work to be seamless.”
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The Director General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Patrick Aboagye addressing the nation at a COVID-19 press briefing on April 3rd, 2020 disclosed that the government is working with some local companies to produce PPEs amidst worldwide shortages.
By: Joel Sanco