GHS to set up committee to probe COVID-19 death

The North East Regional Directorate of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) will set up an independent committee to investigate the death of the 19-year-old man who is said to have died from the Coronavirus disease (COVID 19) at the Walewale Government Hospital.

The man, who was said to have an underlying asthma condition, died after about four hours of being admitted to the hospital on Monday, April 6, this year.

The North East Regional Director of GHS, Dr Abubakar Abdulai, said “the hospital gave us a report and it is different from what the relatives of the deceased have so we intend to constitute a committee to go to the hospital and investigate.”

He said all the concerns raised by the family would be investigated to ascertain the actual cause of death of the young man, stating that “we will carry out an investigation to ascertain the veracity of the allegation by the family.”

Test positive

The deceased was confirmed positive after health officials suspected some symptoms of the COVID-19 after his death and sent samples to the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research (KCCR) into Tropical Diseases for testing.

But, after receiving the test results on Friday, April 10, this year, the family rejected the report and said the death of their relative which was attributed to COVID-19 was “fake and unacceptable” because they suspected a cover-up plot by management of the hospital.

They have also since refused to adhere to directives by authorities to self-quarantine themselves as well as cooperate with the Municipal Emergency Response Team in contact tracing.

Contrary report

According to the family, the test result shows that samples of the deceased were taken on Saturday, April 4, 2020, contrary to reports by authorities that the samples were taken on Monday, April 6.

They, therefore, doubted the authenticity of the report because their relative was admitted to the hospital on Monday, April 6 and the samples were taken the same day after he had passed on, but not as captured on the test result.

They threatened to seek legal redress if authorities did not come out as a matter of urgency to clarify the matter.

The spokesperson of the family, Mr Ibrahim Alhassan, in an interview, said: “From the beginning until our relative died, we have not been told the truth. We are not saying the disease doesn’t exist but our son did not die from that virus.”

Contact tracing

 Dr Abdulai said about 43 primary contacts, including seven health workers at the hospital, had so far been traced and had been quarantined in the municipality.

The Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Issahaku Aremeyaw Somo, who chairs the Emergency Response Team, said, “We are in talks with the family to cooperate with us to self-quarantine and also support efforts in the tracing of contacts.”