General News of Wednesday, 6 December 2017
Source: Myjoyonline.com
2017-12-06
Four students have died under strange circumstances in the school since last week
The Health Minister, Kwaku Agyemang-Manu has said the Kumasi Academy will not be closed down as stated earlier.
The Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei Mensah had told Luv News’ Ohemeng Tawiah earlier that authorities were considering closing down the school on Thursday.
Joy News’ Parliamentary Correspondent, Joseph Opoku Gapko, however, reports the Health Minister as saying adequate measures are being put in place to contain the situation which has so far cost governemnt GHS100,000.
Frantic efforts are being made to ascertain the cause of deaths at the school following the outbreak of an ‘unknown’ illness.
So far, four students – three boys and a girl – have lost their lives to the illness doctors at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital have described as the first of its kind in Ghana.
Some 18 other students are on admission, while six have been treated and discharged.
The female student who died yesterday is reported to have had a high body temperature and died after she was rushed to the hospital.
School and health authorities are undertaking a screening and treatment exercise for students.
A number of students who left the school returned this morning to take part in the screening and treatment.
They will, however, return to their various homes after school closes today and return tomorrow for teaching and learning to continue.
Already, most of the students have taken a Broad Spectrum Antibiotics being administered by health authorities.
They suspect the cause of the deaths is a bacterial infection and they believe the antibiotics being administered will weaken it.
Although the specific illness is still not known, health authorities expect each student to take the antibiotic before they go home to prevent the spread of the disease in case it is contagious.
Tests are still being run and health authorities are hopeful that they will soon arrive at the real cause of the situation.
Ohemeng said the panic-stricken parents are cooperating with school and health authorities although they say there has been a lack of transparency on the issue.
The recent deaths bring the total number of deaths in the school since March this year when the ‘mysterious’ illness broke to 11.
