Funeral of 17-year-old KUMACA student underway

A requiem service is currently underway at Krofrom a suburb of Kumasi in the Ashanti region for a 17-year-old former female student of Kumasi Academy (KUMACA).

Clementina Konadu was part of the KUMACA students who died of H1N1 at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) hospital weeks ago.

Grief-stricken parents and the bereaved family have remained inconsolable as the body of the 17-year old in a casket was brought to the funeral grounds ahead of the burial later today.

The late Clementina was among 11 students of the school who reportedly died of the influenza flu and meningitis which hit the school from March this year.

She was the only female among the deceased persons bringing to 11 the number of students who have died under mysterious circumstances since April this year, while the number on admission has increased to 44.

Meanwhile, the Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei-Mensah is calling for further investigations into the cause of strange deaths at Kumasi Academy in the Asokore-Mampong Municipality of the Ashanti Region.

Indications are that all 11 deaths were as a result of H1N1 otherwise known as swine flu but the Ghana Health Service (GHS) said that may not be the definite cause of death as more research is still being conducted.

According to Mr Osei Mensah , both symptoms of H1N1 and meningitis are similar therefore it will be appropriate for the Ghana Health Service (GHS) to conduct a second test to come out with the real cause of the death.

The Regional Minister explained on Adom Fm that though he is not a health expert, he believes H1N1 may not be the only cause as established by experts from GHS and World Health Organization (WHO).

“Both have similar causes and symptoms such as body aches, chills, cough, fatigue, fever, headache, loss of appetite, sore throat. So we shouldn’t end here. We must carry the investigations further to know if there is another cause and what we have to do so that another students do not die”, Hon. Simon Osei-Mensah suggested

According to Hon. Simon Osei-Mensah, though he does not doubt the entire report from experts of Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research but he is offering suggestion and advice.