We didn’t learn from the past – Former Deputy Health Minister

A Deputy Minister of Health during the Mahama administration has chastised the attitude of Ghanaian leaders towards the health system, saying nothing seemed to have been learnt from the past.

Dr Victor Bampoe, who was in the thick of affairs in Ghana’s preparedness plans in the outbreak of Ebola in the West African sub-region in 2014, said the country is at the crossroads in the face of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

He was speaking on Monday, March 23 at a roundtable discussion by experts hosted by Media General on the containment, treatment and surveillance on Covid-19.

So far, Ghana has confirmed 24 cases of the disease, which started in Chinese city of Wuhan in 2019. There has been one death.

Isolation centres have been mounted at the Greater Accra Regional Hospital and Tema General Hospital. A treatment centre has also been set up in the Northern Region, according to the Ghana Health Service.

Holding bays have also been created at several health facilities across the country for suspected cases.

But this has said to be inadequate to slow the spread of the disease, which has claimed over 15,000 deaths.

The former Deputy Minister of Health said the country must cultivate a habit of learning from past incidents.

“It doesn’t seem as if we have learnt as a country from past challenges,” he pointed out.

For him, it is Covid-19 today and Ebola yesterday.

“Something else will come whether we like it or not,” he stressed.

He said leadership should not go to sleep when this pandemic is over.