Meningitis declared an epidemic in Bole

The Bole District in the Northern Region has declared the meningitis situation in the District as an epidemic.

The District has recorded 16 suspected cases, nine of which were confirmed and four dead.

Six patients out of the nine confirmed cases are alive and responding to treatment.

Laboratory investigations were, however, not completed for three other suspected cases.

The District Director of Health, Mahamah Ewuntomah, said the Bole District Hospital, which is the reference point for communities in the District, has put in place measures to ensure quality management of the disease and are also battling it through public education and durbars.

Dr Badu Sarkodie, the Director of Public Health at the Ghana Health Service, explained that the general situation of meningitis in the Region has not reached an epidemic stage but expressed concerns over increasing suspected cases in the region.

He stated that the Service together with the Ministry of Health have begun an immunization programme and advised all natives to take advantage of it.

The Deputy Minister of Health, Dr Victor Asare Bampoe, said government has already injected some funding to build capacity to contain the disease and ensure continuous medical supplies as an intervention.

The deputy minister as well as the other health directors visited the regions affected by the recent outbreak of meningitis to see at first hand how the hospitals are managing the situation.