Health expert urges health officials to focus on other killer diseases

Professor Peter Twumasi, Director-General of the National Sports Authority, has called on health professionals to maintain a high level of focus on patients with other diseases amidst the Coronavirus pandemic.

Ghana's 129 recorded casualties from COVID-19 over the last six months thus remain the lowest (about 1 death per day) in terms of contribution to the total death figures of the country.

According to Prof Twumasi who doubles as a Biochemist/Biotechnologist said a total of 591 people die each day in Ghana from various diseases and other causes of death either than the virus.

"It's therefore of essence that the health officials maintain a high level of focus to treat patients of diseases that have real impact on the country’s overall death such as malaria, heart disease, stroke, cancer, and diabetes," Prof. Twumasi stated in his monthly articles on COVID-19.

He said that the majority of persons who contract the Coronavirus showed very mild symptoms and therefore urge calm to avoid alarm in the country's health system.

He said that such a panic state could lead to health officials ignoring patients with the enumerated real deadly diseases within our environment and this would lead to mass deaths not necessarily from COVID-19 even when they test positive for the virus.

"Our attention should be focused on treating the underlying diseases rather than postponing them due to the scare of the virus," he said.