KUMACA deaths: Authorities call for WHO intervention

Kumasi Academy School may be closed down on Friday if suspected bacterial infection which is causing death among the students continue to fester.

The Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei-Mensah made this known at an emergency meeting Tuesday involving the Regional Coordinating Council, Regional and Asokore Mampong Municipal Directors of Education, a team of health experts made up of a delegation from the head office of the Ghana Health Service and the Ashanti regional directorate of Health as well as authorities of KUMACA.

Mr Osei-Mensah said an indefinite closure may occur if the prevailing problem does not change to allow for a comprehensive evaluation of the situation to determine the actual causes so as to find a lasting solution for it.

The Minister who sympathised with parents and guardians appealed to them to leave their children in the school, for medication.

Meanwhile, a medical team will be administering antibiotics to the students and staff of the school from Wednesday to prevent the infection from spreading.

The Ashanti Regional Director of the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Emmanuel Tenkorang, said the team, after administering the antibiotics, will conduct an intensive survey in the school to find the possible source of the bacteria.

Meanwhile, the Ashanti Regional authorities are calling for the intervention of the World Health Organization to vaccinate all the students and staff of the Kumasi Academy, KUMACA, against infections.

This follows the death of four students of the school within two weeks, with the cause yet to be ascertained.

Some of the students too are on admission at the Kwame Nkrumah University and Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospitals in Kumasi.

The Ashanti Regional Director of Health, Dr. Emmanuel Tenkorang, said all laboratory examinations conducted on the infected students so far, have ruled out meningitis as the cause of the latest resurgence of unexplained deaths among the students.