The Executive Director of Child Rights International, Ghana, Bright Appiah, has called on parents to remain calm as health experts investigate the cause of deaths at Kumasi Academy in the Ashanti region.
Ten deaths have been recorded since April 2017 over a mysterious disease in the school. The development has resulted in total pandemonium between parents and school authorities as the former want to withdraw their wards. Over 20 students are currently receiving treatment at various health centres as authorities investigate the case.
Speaking on Morning Starr Wednesday, 06 December 2017, Mr. Appiah said it will not be prudent for parents to rush for their kids, however, he stressed “the Ghana Education Service must be interested to ensure that the basic rights of children are protected.”
“Parents may be so scared and may want to take their wards out of the school, but I’ll urge them to keep calm and allow the Health officials to handle the situation,” Mr. Appiah told host Francis Abban.
“I will urge parents to remain calm as we listen to the experts… It is important we take measures to take care of our children in schools. Based on the autopsy reports, it indicates there is a challenge which needs to be dealt with once and for all.
“We should allow the experts to do what they have to do. The Ministry of Health has intervened per the information reaching us. Some reports show that there has been some negligence in some schools which accounts for some of these outbreaks,” the National Chairman of the Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition noted.
Mr. Appiah advised Authorities to “look at the sleeping arrangement of students… how their beds are positioned, the number of students in a room among others.”
Meanwhile, the Minority in Parliament has accused the Health Minister Kwaku Agyeman Manu of “sleeping on the job.”
According to the Asawase MP, the minister has not been proactive in handling the suspected meningitis outbreak at Kumasi Academy.
Source: Ghana/Starrfmonline.com/103.5FM
