The Ghana Health Service has allayed the fears of residents of Tema Newtown over unexplained deaths in the community.
Director General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Anthony Nsiah-Asare, said the preliminary investigations conducted by district health officers reveal that the deaths are purely coincidental and not spiritual.
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Thousands of residents from Monday have had to rush to the beach daily to take a bath in the sea on the instructions of a traditional priest to fortify themselves against curses invoked on the town by ritualists.
The residents paid one Ghana Cedi each to the purification team led by the said traditional priest before rituals were performed on behalf of the individual.
The death of ten persons under “mysterious circumstances” within 10 days led to mass panic, paving the way for the traditional priest’s antidote of a sea dip, among other rituals.
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But speaking on Adom FM’s morning show, Dwaso Nsem Thursday, Dr Nsiah-Asare said the deaths were not spiritual.
He explained that postmortem conducted on some of the deceased at the Tema General hospital revealed that the majority died of hypertension and another who was a lady, of ectopic pregnancy.
“The deaths are not spiritual or an epidemic so I will urge the residents to remain calm. Our men are still doing surveillance,” he added.
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Dr Nsiah-Asare said the Ghana Health Service is still undertaking surveillance in the area to unravel the mystery behind the deaths.
He called on the public to undertake regular checkups and exercise to prevent such avoidable deaths.