Osei-Mensah never said Ebola killed KUMACA students - PRO

Cassandra Twum-Ampofo, Public Relations officer of the Ashanti Regional Education Directorate, has said reports in a section of the media indicating that the regional minister, Simon Osei-Mensah attributed the death of the students at Kumasi Academy (KUMACA) to Ebola, were erroneous.

According to her, Mr Mensah never attributed the death to Ebola, and that he was taken out of contest.

Mrs Twum-Ampofo was cautioning journalists to desist from misreporting on the deaths at KUMACA, while speaking in an interview with Chief Jerry Forson, host of the Ghana Yensom show on Accra 100.5FM on Wednesday, December 6.

There were some publications that the regional minister has said the deaths are as a result of the Ebola Viral Disease, a comment which left many wondering the kind of research work done by the minister before he arrived at that conclusion.

But Mrs Ampofo-Twum said: “Reports by some of the media houses have caused fear and panic among the general public. We are not saying don’t report on the issues, all we are saying is that tell the true story without exaggerating it.

“Some journalists are even putting out wrong figures out there. Others also reported that the Regional Minister attributed the death to Ebola but this is a comment the minister never made.”

Three more students of the school have been confirmed dead.

The latest report on Tuesday, 5 December, means a total of six students have passed away in the latest tragedy that has struck the school.

The recent three; two females and a male, died at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) hospital, the Ashanti Regional Public Relations Officer of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Cassandra Twum Ampofo confirmed to Graphic Online.

Twenty-five more students are on admission at the KNUST hospital with authorities unable to determine the cause of deaths.