Former President of the Musicians Union of Ghana, Bice Osei Kuffuor aka ‘Obuor’, lost his father to the new coronavirus (COVID-19) on Friday, at the Ridge Hospital in Accra.
Sources at the Hospital told JoyNews‘ Emefa Apawu that the deceased, Nana Osei Boansi Kuffour, was taken to the facility on Thursday showing symptoms of the virus.
This brings the number of COVID-19-related deaths in Ghana to 4.
Below is Obour’s statement confirming his father’s demise
With sadness and a heavy heart, I announce the death of Nana Osei Boansi Kuffour, my biological father.
Nana returned from UK on 19th March after his yearly visit to the family. Upon his return, he was fine but began coughing on Sunday 22nd.
We arranged for his blood sample to be tested and he tested positive for malaria.
We began treatment for malaria but his condition got worse. We arranged to bring him to Accra to be tested for Covid 19 at Ridge Hospital on Wednesday. They informed us that his report will be ready on Friday but we should keep him in quarantine which we did.
On Thursday night he had extreme difficulty with breathing so we called the Ambulance service and informed them of his condition. We told them the patient has tested for COVID 19 and awaiting his results so they should come along with appropriate apparel.
The ambulance team took him to Ridge Hospital around 11pm on Thursday March 26. We informed the health team at Ridge of his condition and also informed them he had earlier taken a test for Covid and awaiting results.
Late this afternoon, the Drs informed us that he is likely to be a confirmed Covid case and as such we should take steps to do a contact trace and quarantine ourselves. Sadly he passed on this evening.
Under the circumstances, I understand nobody can come over to pay their respects and commiserate with our family as we are all on a 14 Day quarantine though I and my assistant who had close contact with him have both tested negative for COVID-19 as at today 27th March.
These are the true facts about my father’s demise.
Bice Obour Osei Kuffour
Health workers self-isolate
Meanwhile, the deceased is said to have come into contact with some health workers who may not have known of his infection earlier.
About 15 of the health workers who were on duty at the time are expected to be taken through self-isolation while contact tracing begins.
Hospital authorities are also preparing to disinfect the emergency centre.
The authorities are said to be waiting for the National COVID-19 Response Team to take the necessary steps before getting the body moved.
Ghana has so far recorded 137 COVID-19 cases, 4 deaths with two recoveries.
The Ghana Health Service’s website has confirmed the deaths adding that all four had underlying chronic medical conditions.
