Health alert! Poison cases on the rise

At least an average of 20 cases of exposure to poison or poison consumption are recorded in each of the public health facilities across the country every month.

The circumstances include perceived accidental cases mainly involving children, drug overdose, consumption of household chemicals such as bleaches and exposure to pesticides.

The Head of the Ghana Poison Control Centre of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Caesar Nyadedzor, disclosed these in an interview with the Daily Graphic.

Emergency number

Mr Nyadedzor advised that when a person, whether intentionally or otherwise, was exposed to substances they were not sure about, they should call the emergency number of the Poison Centre which ran on a 24-hour basis.

“When people call us, depending on what we think they are exposed to, the signs and symptoms that they are having, we can assess to see whether it's a case which is mild or moderate or severe.

If it's a case that will cause an irreversible harm, then we work out our assessment and advise as to what you should do,” he said.

Common cases

Mr Nyadedzor said the cases of poisoning among adolescents and adults ranged from intentional consumption to occupational exposures, and for criminal purposes.

Mr Nyadedzor pointed out that poisoning in the country was a source of concern, explaining that a lot of substances or products in the system were potential poisons.

He said many deaths and existing health problems in the country were attributable to toxic exposures and poisons.

Mr Nyadedzor, a toxicologist, said even though the number of poison cases in the country was smaller than cases related to infectious diseases, poisoning always created a challenge for both the victim and health professionals.

He said while the nature of poison could determine the speed of danger to the life of the victim, its impact on healthcare was that it could pull a huge number of health personnel to just a single case when many other patients were waiting to be attended to.

Consequential effects

Mr Nyadedzor explained that the effect of some poisons could be irreversible, including resulting in death, depending on the organ it affected.

He explained that in the case of the reversible ones, doctors were able to reverse the symptoms to the point where the person could have full recovery without any effect.

For the irreversible damage, he said it could lead to death, and if the victim survived, depending on the organ damaged by the poison, they would have to be on a therapy for the rest of their lives.

“Some poison can affect the kidneys, and when the kidney is damaged, depending on the level of the damage, one may just have to go through things like dialysis for the rest of their lives,” he explained.

Reducing poison

On what the centre was doing to reduce poison cases in the country, he said aside public awareness which was low, the centre was training and building the capacity of health workers so that they could work with other stakeholders and agencies to deal with such problems.

Additionally, he said, the centre worked with regulatory bodies such as the Food and Drugs Authority to provide information to the public, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency in providing permits and licences for chemicals that were brought into the country.