Okoe-Boye awaits Parliament's approval as Deputy Health Minister
The Deputy Minister of Health designate, Dr Benard Okoe-Boye, has lauded the government’s decision to opt for a partial lockdown of some cities as against a total lockdown of the entire country to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
He said the outcome of contact tracing and other safety measures would determine whether there should be a total lockdown.
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Dr Okoe-Boye, who is the Board Chairman of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital and Member of Parliament (MP) for Ledzokuku, was answering questions when appeared before Parliament’s Appointment Committee Wednesday to be vetted for the deputy ministerial position.
He said so far it had been the practice for countries to observe their COVID-19 case curves to inform their decisions.
Measures put in place
The Obstetrician Gynaecologist said when the country instituted measures against the disease in January this year it was with the aim of preventing it from reaching the country and then in March when the first case was recorded, the interventions introduced were in response to the rise in the case count.
The MP for Ledzokuku said he was optimistic of the country triumphing over the disease, gauging from the work of the numerous committees set up by the government, coupled with the stringent measures put in place to manage the spread of the disease.
Dr Okoe-Boye explained that the growing number of people testing positive since the first case was recorded on March 11 was due largely to the efficient surveillance system and testing.
Samples
“They are not necessarily cases of yesterday. We have a lot of samples in the queue for us to test because of the limitation in testing capacity, although Ghana is one of the highest testing regions in the continent after South Africa,” he stated.
Dr Okoe-Boye said regarding the number of deaths, 8, the 17 recoveries and some 66 others who were awaiting a second test result to affirm their negative status, would be subtracted from the current number of confirmed cases, adding “If you have cases that are going up, then you want to maintain your measures or escalate them.”
He said all the 16 regions in the country had been provided with treatment centres, complete with equipment and logistics to assist professionals in their work.
Traditional medicine
On the inclusion of traditional medicine in the fight against the virus and in the general health delivery system, Dr Oko-Boye said any intervention that would help in the fight would be welcomed, but in order to control the influx of fake traditional medicine practitioners, a specialised unit had been set up at the Ministry of Health to verify their claims.
He said a number of herbalists were claiming that they had developed drugs that would boost the immune system to control the infection and not a cure, saying such assertions would also be verified.
The Ledzokuku MP called for more education of the virus in all media, especially on radio and television using chiefs, opinion leaders and all stakeholders within the community to help all the laid down protocols.
Outpatients
Dr Oko-Boye explained that all Out Patient Departments (OPD) in the country had not been completely shut down in order to reduce the large crowds of patients. Hospitals were also admitting only serious emergency cases, while the less critical ones were being dealt with outside the OPDs.
Appointment
President Nana Akufo-Addo nominated Dr Okoe-Boye last week to take up the role of Deputy Health Minister to replace Alexander Kodwo Abban, who had been reassigned as Deputy Minister for Communications, replacing Vincent Sowah Odotei, MP for La Dadekotopon, whose appointment has been revoked.
A medical doctor by profession, his vetting was fast-tracked to enable him to bring his expertise on board in Ghana’s fight against COVID-19.