E/R: Lack of isolation centres for suspected Monkeypox patients worrying – Health authorities

Families of a suspected monkeypox patient in the Birim North District of the Eastern Region who are supposed to be in isolation are moving around because there is no isolation ward or centre.

According to the health authorities, the suspect, who has been quarantined, should be in isolation with the family members, but the lack of the wards does not permit them to do so.

The Acting Health Director for Birim North Municipality, Mary Achiaa made the revelations on 3FM’s Sunrise hosted by Alfred Ocansey on Wednesday.

The district has recorded one suspected case of monkeypox and samples have been taken and sent to the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research for investigations as of Friday, June 10, 2022.

Madam Achiaa said “we don’t have an isolation ward in the district”.

“They are still on it but it has not been handed over to us. The District Assembly is on it but they have not handed it over to us. It is almost finished. The patient has been quarantined but the families are moving around”.

She explained that “the immediate family members have not been confined or tested so they are not in isolation. They are moving around”.

The Acting Health Director explained that “we are waiting for the confirmation or otherwise from Noguchi and if it is confirmed to be positive, we will do the contact tracing”

“The person travelled from a place to one of our villages [village names withheld] and we have spoken to the family on what they are supposed to do. Now that we are waiting for the results, we have told the family to inform us of any similar symptoms”.

In a related development, the Afram Plains South District also in the same Region has also recorded two suspected monkeypox cases.

But, they are also facing a similar challenge of lack of isolation centre or ward.

The Director of Health at the Afram Plains South District, Richard Essien, told 3FM’s Sunrise on Wednesday that “the victims are male and a female. They are young persons”.

“They are relatives…mother and child. A year old and the mother is 23”, he explained.

He explained that “we have done the contact tracing and we know those he contacted so their movements are kind of restricted”.

“On isolation, we look at the setup of the homes first. If they are able to isolate well in their homes so that we don’t have to bring them far away to the hospital, we isolate them in their homes so that we monitor them from the homes”.

Mr. Essien explained that “this case, they are well isolated in the home now. We currently do not have a functional isolation centre but we are in the position to create one if the need be”.

Source: Kweku Antwi-Otoo|3news.com|Ghana