Ghana needs at least 1,000 ventilators for Covid-19 fight - Respiratory therapist

Jibril Yahaya Luwaa, Respiratory therapist at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York says Ghana will need at least 1,000 ventilators to be able to survive the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Ghana Health Service said Ghana currently has 67 ventilators for the public hospitals and 100 more are being ordered to help the recovery process of the Covid-19 patients.

Director-General of the service, Dr Patrick Aboagye said 20 of the 100 are already in and from the support of the private facilities Ghana could count about 100 to 200 in the coming days.

But Jibril Yahaya Luwaa said this is not enough, he noted that even though it is expensive the patients will need it as life support before the immune systems fight the virus.

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"Seriously we will need to start moving because it's clear to me that and not even just this pandemic we need to be really prepared and I'm calling on the government to try as much as possible to acquire these ventilators."

Jibril Yahaya Luwaa stated that Ghana needs to have the ventilators early and also build capacity.

"We need to get them before we need them. 100 is not in enough we need to do more, as a country like Ghana we need to have at least 1,000 ventilators."

Fighting Covid-19, be sincere with your travel history - Prof. Yawson advises Ghanaians

Physician and a Public Health Consultant, Professor Alfred Edwin Fiifi Yawson has advised Ghanaians to be sincere with their travel history in the Covid-19 fight.

According to him, this will be one of the surest ways to also protect the health professionals who we have outnumbered.

Reports indicate that there was a case of Covid-19 at the Accra Regional Hospital at Ridge where the patient who eventually died did not disclose his travel history when he was brought to the hospital but later tested positive. He is said to have returned from abroad in the past few weeks.

This has sparked debate and anger on social media, some are even calling for the relative of the patient to be arrested for hiding vital information from the health officials.

Sharing his views on how to protect the health professionals, Prof. Yawson said there is no stigmatisation attached to the virus so people should open up to save others.