Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka
The Minister of Health Kwaku Agyeman-Manu has allayed the fears of the Member of Parliament for Asawase Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka of dying from a respiratory illness known as Influenza H1N1 2009 which has claimed the lives of four students of the Kumasi Academy Senior High School (KUMACA) in the past one week.
Hon. Muntaka under whose constituency the school falls, has been left fear-gripped following confirmation that the initial unexplained deaths in the school was caused by Influenza H1N1 2009 which is contagious, especially as he’s visited the campus and has had handshakes with the school authorities.
The Minority Chief Whip has been very harsh on authorities in charge of education in Ghana, especially in the Ashanti Region, accusing them of being careless in handling the circumstances leading to the death of students.
But Hon. Kwaku Agyeman-Manu while briefing Parliament on the preliminary report on the deaths in KUMACA, urged Hon. Muntaka not to habour any fears of death as his life is not in danger.
“The assurance I can give to me colleague MP for Asawase who claims he’s visited the school twice and shook hands with the Headmaster is the fact that the incubation period for this particular virus is four days. Between Saturday and now that he hasn’t gotten the disease, it indicates that he hasn’t gotten the strain so he should rest assured that we wouldn’t allow him to die.”
He disclosed that the Ministry of Health plans to have the persons in Asokore and its immediate environs vaccinated when vaccines from the World Health Organization are ready, adding that every household a student has visited in the past few days will also be vaccinated.
Addressing the media Thursday, the Health Minister disclosed that 19 tests conducted by the Noguchi Memorial Institute confirmed Influenza H1N1 209 as the cause of the deaths and not meningitis as earlier suspected.
Hon. Agyeman-Manu also stated that seven students who died in the school earlier in April this year died from meningitis.
He assured that the outbreak has been confined to the Kumasi Academy and not likely to spread beyond the school.
The Minister also confirmed that 44 students have been infected and are currently receiving treatment. He appealed to parents not to panic and return their children who have been taken home.