KUMACA: Death toll now 4 as 44 students on admission - Medical team

The Ashanti Regional Director of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr. Emmanuel Tenkorang, has revealed that death toll of students at Kumasi Academy now stand at four as of last night (Tuesday, December 5, 2017) and also ruled out Meningitis as the cause of deaths

According to the Health Expert, 44 more students are on admission at the KNUST hospital with authorities unable to determine the cause of deaths.

Speaking to OTECNEWS in an interview, Dr. Emmanuel Tenkorang, said “we have done all the tests for meningitis. They are negative, so it shows that the condition is not meningitis.”

Four students died earlier in 2017, whilst four have died within the last week, with the latest being yesterday [Tuesday].

The Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei Mensah, was addressing the school following a meeting with the Regional Security Council on the health crisis. As he was speaking, two female students of the school collapsed sparking the panic from some parents trying to secure their wards.

Police personnel were dispatched to the school to maintain law and order following earlier agitations from parents.

Dr. Emmanuel Tenkorang added: “We suspect that, most probably, there was an atypical bacterial infection, and that is the reason why we have this crisis. From the pathologist report, we believe there was an infection and most probably, it is a bacterial infection, and because of the fatalities, it is one of the atypical bacteria that we are dealing with.’’

‘’The medical team working in the school would be administering antibiotics to the students and staff of the school to prevent the infection from spreading before the school is closed down on Friday’’, he said.

Blood samples from the deceased have, however, been sent to the Noguchi Memorial Research Institute to ascertain the cause of the deaths.

According to him, the Health Service officials are partnering with a medical team from the World Health Organization to screen and treat students who have been infected.

He said after administering the antibiotics, the team will conduct an intensive survey in the school find the possible source of the bacteria.

“From there, we will do an intensive survey in the school. We will scan the entire environment, we will investigate the kitchen, investigate every staff and the environment to see if there is any infection hiding somewhere that is causing this problem.”