Over 120 health workers have tested positive for the deadly novel coronavirus in Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the Ghana Medical Association, Dr. Paa Kwesi Baidoo, has revealed.
He said over 20 doctors and 100 nurses working at the facility have contracted the virus, which had officially killed 14 people, while the death of 24 others from the disease is being audited by the government COVID-19 Taskforce.
Dr Baidoo noted that the number of infected healthcare professionals could be an estimation, as the exact number of infected nurses was not known.
“We are compiling the list of doctors nationwide and we will make it public. But those from Komfo Anokye, and my last count, they were almost twenty. If twenty doctors are getting it, you can extrapolate the number of other health workers.
“I can’t give you the figures therein because I am not responsible for gathering their data, but it stands to reason that for each doctor who will get it, there will be about five nurses or healthcare workers who will also get it,” he told Starr FM
According to the Ghana Health Service, the Ashanti Region has recorded 2,275 cases of coronavirus with 14 deaths.
But the figure, according to Dr. Baidoo, was not a true reflection of what was on the ground.
He said the region has recorded 38 deaths.
Dr. Baidoo’s doubt of the reports comes a day after it was reported that the total number of dead people in the Ashanti Region is not reflecting in the national figures.
At least one healthcare professional has died from the disease in the Ashanti Region.
Dr Harry Owusu Boateng, the 48-year-old Medical Director or Medical Superintendent at Kwadaso SDA Hospital in Kumasi, passed away on June 13, 2020, after he complained of being unwell.
Scores of frontline workers have also complained about the risk they face without Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs).
