Health Minister Kwaku Agyemang-Manu has said closure of Kumasi Academy (KUMACA) in the Ashanti region after an outbreak of a strange disease will be the last resort.
According to him, they want to prevent the strange disease which has left four students dead and over 18 others hospitalized within a week from spreading to other areas.
His comment comes after the Education Ministry indicated it will close down the school indefinitely following the outbreak.
Deputy Minister of Education in charge of Secondary and Vocational education, Dr. Osei Yaw Adutwum was emphatic that “we are going to close down the school. It’s going to happen but we want to protect them [students] first before we do.”
But Hon Agyemang Manu on Adom FM’s morning show, Dwaso Nsem said the closure will be a recipe for disaster.
“The investigation is going to be long. It is not going to be so simple. They are going to look at all the dormitories and classrooms, they would examine the kitchen, dining hall; they would examine the water that they take in the school. They would scan the whole environment and even beyond the walls of the school”.
For now, he noted that, a medication programme on Wednesday has covered over 1,000 students in a 3-dose antibiotic to deal with the suspected bacterial infection.
The Health Minister noted that, the 18 hospitalized have been responding to treatment after they were treated with Azithromycin, a broad spectrum antibiotics.
He revealed that, a national team of experts has been deployed to minimize the impact of the outbreak of the unknown disease.
The team, Hon. Agyeman Manu said is to stop further transmission, ensure effective case management, protect school population at risk, educate the school population and submit a report and recommendations to prevent further occurrences.
He commended the health professionals for the swift response which has helped contain the strange disease.
The Health Minister called for increased surveillance system whiles they want for the test results from Ngochi.
