General News of Saturday, 16 December 2017
Source: citifmonline.com
2017-12-16
File Photo: The student died after he was taken to the Bawku Presbyterian Hospital earlier this week
A student of Tempane Senior High School in the Garu-Tempane district of the Upper East Region is reported to have died from Cerebrospinal Meningitis (CMS)
The student reported to the Bawku Presbyterian Hospital earlier this week in critical condition.
His death brings to two, the number of students who have died from the condition in the Region within this week.
On Wednesday, a 19-year-old Bawku Secondary Technical School student also died from CSM.
Confirming the death of the Tempane SHS student to Citi News, the Medical Director of the Bawku Presbyterian Hospital, Dr. Clement Oppong, said the condition can better be managed if those affected seek early treatment.
“So far we have a lot of students coming in but we were able to confirm only 2 meningitis cases and unfortunately we lost both of them. One is from the Bawku Secondary Technical and the other one is from Tempane Secondary School. We received about 10 students, the 8 of them, we couldn’t confirm meningitis, in fact, some of them were discharged yesterday [Friday].”
“For now, the season for meningitis, we are already in it, the heat and all. We have to be on the lookout for signs and symptoms, anybody with a fever, headache, neck pains have to report to the hospital as early as possible for us to examine the person and do the necessary investigation. Meningitis is not a condition that kills automatically unless you report late. Those who report early and likely to survive,” he said.
Meningitis in SHSs
There appears to be an outbreak of meningitis in some Senior High Schools in the country.
The development comes after an outbreak of H1N1 influenza type A at the Kumasi Academy in the Ashanti Region.
A preliminary report by a medical team at the Damongo District Hospital earlier this week, indicated that the death of a student at Damongo Senior High School in the West Gonja District of the Northern Region, was caused by non-communicable meningitis.
The Eastern Regional Director of Health Services, Dr. Charity Sarpong, also this week confirmed that, a second-year science student of Koforidua Technical School SECTECH, who passed away over the weekend, died from Meningitis.
