The Minister of Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandor, has commended the management of the Queen of Peace Secondary School at Nadowli for their swift response, which helped save the life of a student who tested positive for cerebrospinal meningitis (CSM).
He particularly commended the effort of the Senior House Master in rushing the students who tested positive for meningitis.
He said the early intervention by the Senior House Master, Felix Sangyor, ensured that the student was attended to early by health professionals and is currently responding to treatment.
“Such sense of urgency should be the approach to all suspected cases of meningitis to reduce the fatality rate,” the Minister stated.
Visit, cases
The issue came to light when Mr Akandoh, together with the Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, Professor Samuel Kaba Akoriyea, visited the Nadowli District Hospital last Wednesday where the National Rapid Response Team has been training the health workers on meningitis case management.
The visit also allowed the team to appreciate the challenges facing the health workers and how the ministry could assist them.
It was during the visit that the team met the student from Queen of Peace Secondary School who was on admission at the district hospital and was briefed about the incident.
The Nadowli District and the Wa Municipality have recorded the highest suspected cases of meningitis in the Upper West Region this year, with Nadowli recording 26 suspected cases with the Wa Municipality recording 22 cases.
The district also leads in fatality with five deaths out of seven confirmed cases, while Wa Municipal has recorded one death out of three confirmed cases.
As part of the intervention, Mr. Akandoh presented boxes of antibiotics to the Nadowli District Hospital for the treatment of CSM cases.
Brief
Briefing the team, Mr Sangyor said he was out of the school when he received a call that one of the students was not feeling well and needed medical attention.
He said the student was not feeling well some days earlier and was asked by his colleagues to visit the Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) compound but he did not go.
The senior housemaster said the initial plan was to carry the student on his motorbike to the district hospital, “But when I came and saw his condition, I had to hire a rickshaw to send him to the hospital.
“I thought we had lost him because his condition was so precarious. We just thank God for sparing his life,” he said.
While thanking and commending Mr. Sangyor for his proactiveness, he urged the school authorities to be innovative and take preventive measures to reduce the risk of exposure to the disease.
He said it should be possible to allow the students to sleep in the open particularly during this dry season to allow for ventilation in the dormitories.
“You know your situation best and if you need any advice, consult the medical doctors and the district directors of health and education, they will support you to provide a conducive environment for the students to study,” he said.
No closure
Although Nadowli is one of the districts with the highest reported suspected cases of meningitis, Mr Akandoh said the situation was not at that level where schools would be asked to close down.
He said the situation was still manageable and that people only needed to take precautionary measures and report early to health facilities for testing and treatment.
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