Bereaved KUMACA families to receive support for funerals

Each bereaved family of the deceased students of Kumasi Academy (KUMACA) is to be given GHc5,000 to suport initial funeral expenses, the Vice President, Alhaji Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has announced.

The government will also take care of the funeral and burial expenses of each of the four students who died recently.

Dr Bawumia announced this today (Friday) when he led a high powered government delegation to the school.

The entourage included the Health Minister, Kwaku Agyemang Manu, the Minister of State in Charge of Tertiary Education, Prof Kwesi Yankah and the Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr Simon Osei Mensah

He said the government had secured enough vaccination and drugs for treatment and encouraged parents to bring their children for vaccination.

Chronology

The trajectory of the deaths of 11 students of the Kumasi Academy (KUMACA) commenced with the loss of four lives on March 27, 2017.

Within a spate of two weeks, three students who complained of ill health and went home on exeat died mysteriously at the Tafo Trinity, Jachie Pramso and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) hospitals.

Barely had students, parents and the administration of the school come to terms with the three deaths, when another student passed on, bringing the death toll to four.

These unexplained deaths brought fear and panic to the students body of the 60-year-old mixed school which has almost half of its student population being boarders.

Consequently, chaotic scenes ensued, with some aggrieved and scared students resorting to stone throwing that damaged some school property.

Parents who heard of the death of the four students rushed to the school and made moves to take their children home but the refusal of the security to allow them to carry out their intentions culminated in a state of confusion. The presence of armed police officers, however, restored law and order.

Asawase in the Asokore Mampong Municipality, Ahenkro in the Offinso Municipality and Kuntanase in the Bosomtwe District came to a standstill during the funeral and burial of Benjamin Opoku Acheampong (18), Samuel Okyere Kwabi Dapaah (17) and Prince Kodua (15) respectively.

Press conference

On April 6, 2017, the Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr Osei-Mensah, while addressing a press conference in Kumasi, said pathology examination and tests on 16 other students admitted to hospitals indicated that they all suffered from meningitis.

He stated that although the Ashanti Region was not considered a meningitis zone, it had nonetheless recorded some cases of the disease in the past. Students who had earlier left the school returned.

More deaths

A month after the death of the four students, another student also died and a post-mortem indicated he died of typhoid.

However, the cause of the death of the sixth student was unknown and very little was said about it by authorities.

On June 21, 2017, the Daily Graphic broke the news of the death of another student by name Seedock Boadi, which brought the number of deaths at the school to seven in less than four months.

Silence of authorities

In a Daily Graphic interview with the Assistant Headmaster of the school, Mr Ernest Wiafe, in June this year, he shrugged off questions about the development, saying, “Please I can’t speak about anything. I am now with the regional director.”

Although three students died within a spate of three days prior to the 60th anniversary/Speech and Prize-giving Day which fell on December 2, 2017, none of the speakers at the occasion mentioned the deaths.

When the Daily Graphic approached the headmaster about the issue, he directed the team to the Public Relations Department of the Ghana Education Service.

11th death

The death of the 11th and only female student caught the attention of the world, particularly the World Health Organisation (WHO), which donated large quantities of antibiotics because it suspected bacterial infection.

On December 7, 2017, the Minister of Health, Mr Agyeman Manu, at a press conference, announced that the deaths were as a result of an outbreak of Acute Respiratory Illness (H1N1).

He said of the 19 laboratory samples sent to the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, 12 tested positive for Influenza Type-A, while a report on further tests received in the evening of last Thursday confirmed Influenza Type-A H1N1 2009 pandemic strain.

According to him, the situation had resulted in an attack rate of 14/1,000 population with a case fatality rate of 9.1 per cent.