Coronavirus: Prisoners at risk, they need balanced diet

With the widespread of Coronavirus, health experts have advised persons to eat healthy to help their immune system work better in order to fight the virus when contracted. For that matter, healthy eating has been highly recommended.

According to the Medical Director and Superintendent at the Nsawam Prisons, DSP Dr. Lawrence Kofi Acheampong, prisoners across the country with the current amount of GH¢1.80 allocated for their daily meals, lack the balanced diet needed for to boost their immune system.

In a call to improve the condition of inmates, he said, “there is the need for the government to increase the daily GH¢1.80 feeding rate per inmate” adding that, “it has become very important to improve on the diet of the inmate in order to build their immune system, to avoid placing them at a lower risk in terms of contracting COVID-19.”

Prison authorities have for years been calling for an improvement in the welfare of inmates in Ghana. Over population and state of food provisions have been identified as part of the major challenges across the various prisons in the country.

In several reports by the media, inmates lamented about the poor dietary items. Prisoners said they are sometimes given porridge made from maize or millet for breakfast, banku and soup without fish or meat for lunch and ‘gari’ for supper.

Speaking at the event aimed at looking at the implications and management of COVID-19 in prisons, DSP Dr. Lawrence Kofi Acheampong admonished the country not to overlook the possible dangers of the outbreak of the virus in any prison facility in the country.

He again pressed for an immediate provision of prison infectious disease centres in the northern and southern sectors of the country.