The General Secretary of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA), Dr. Justice Yankson has emphasized the need for government to stiffen restrictions on public events as part of measures to control the rate of covid-19 infections following the GMA’s Press Release issued on January 25, 2020.
According to Dr. Justice Yankson in an interview on Citi fm, social activities that require interactions, eating and drinking contribute to the rise in the rate of infections. Though some restrictions have been enforced to limit the spread of infections, he is of the view that the restrictions are not stringent enough.
He said “what we are asking for by way of restriction is akin to a ban or huge limitation on who can do what. Per what is on the ground now, these social gatherings activities are part of the leading causes of the rises in numbers we are seeing. The president made mention of these things. Unfortunately these social activities are still ongoing. Masses are gathering for these functions. They may go in with their masks on but after 30 minutes when they start to eat and drink, they take it off. The risk level goes higher the moment the functions begin. So we are calling for a ban on these things or get the restrictions such that we cannot have these things happening the way we are seeing them.”
“About 10 days ago we had the course to speak about the need for enforcement to be done. Luckily, the President said he had mandated the IGP to ensure that the enforcement bit happens. We saw a bit of it for the first two days, but by and large what is being done, cannot be seen. Or even if you can see, it is not deterrent enough.”
Touching on the immediacy of government’s ability to acquire covid-19 vaccines, Dr. Yankson believes it would last some six months. “if you look at our situation in terms of the processes we are going through to acquire vaccines, clearly, it is going to take us probably another four to six months.” He said.
“From all indications, if you look at the discussions ongoing at the highest level, the West African community level, because of the joint arrangement to acquire vaccines clearly we cannot get a vaccine next month unless some miracle happens.” He added.
In the GMA’s Press Release on Janauary 25, 2020 they indicated the number of cases per day on average to be 600, outlining some measures for government and the public to adopt to curb the spread. One of the measures outlined which raised concerns was their call on government to “as a matter of urgency restrict social activities such as parties, church services, funerals, clubs and other social gathering of such nature. The markets should be regulated and as much as possible restricted.”
