The Ghana Medical Association (GMA) has committed to supporting President Akufo-Addo’s latest directive to lift the lockdown in Accra, Tema, Kasoa and Kumasi.
This comes on the back of an invitation by the President to consult the Association on the reasons behind his decision.
President Akufo-Addo during his Sunday night address, cited available data and science as the premise for arriving at a reversal of the three-week lockdown, contrary to calls by some experts including the GMA, for more stringent measures as the number Covid-19 cases grew.
The association had, on April 4, 2020, expressed concern that a two-week lockdown was inadequate in preventing the spread of the novel coronavirus pandemic.
In the subsequent one-week extension of the lockdown, the GMA had also recommended an additional week if the optimal result is to be achieved.
But following deliberations with the President on Monday, the Deputy General Secretary of GMA, Dr Titus Beyuo says, government’s call is in the interest of Ghanaians and pledged his outfit’s support for the directive.
“Whatever decision the President makes, we have made a vow or pledged to support it the interest of the health of Ghanaians. We do not see any point in having varying opinions. The critical thing is to get to the job and see how best we can deal with the situation,” he said on Top Story on Joy FM Monday.
The GMA deputy General Secretary told Evans Mensah that, the association’s earlier stance was based purely on possible internal migrations and the capacity of the country’s existing health infrastructure to deal with a possible surge in the number of cases.
He explained, government’s decision encapsulated concern about the impact on various facets of the economy, despite the GMA’s stance on the health perspective.
“We have analysed this in the medical realm, he looked at it in the economic realm. We have not looked at what the benefits are, having a partial lockdown,” he said.
Dr Beyuo further explained that, “strictly in the medical realm, I think it’s not lost on the President that the call we’ve been making all this while, would have been right but then it comes at a certain cost to the economy, social and structure.
“But the thing is, does the medical reasons overweigh all the others? That decision or judgment we cannot make,” he said.
Meanwhile, the GMA has also reiterated the need for personal protective equipment (PPEs) at the health facilities across the country, to prevent its member from contracting the virus in their line of duty.
This call, according to Dr Beyuo, was made during the meeting with the President earlier today.
Ghana has currently recorded 1,042 Covid-19 cases with 9 deaths and 99 recoveries.
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