Don’t withhold relevant information from health workers – Information Minister to patients

Government has admonished Ghanaians to disclose vital information to healthcare workers when they visit facilities for healthcare to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

This, according to Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, will inform the necessary precautions to be taken during diagnosis while protecting frontline healthcare professionals from possible contraction.

This advice comes in the wake of a public uproar as an elderly man who died from the virus on Friday is said to have been exposed to some healthcare workers at the Ridge Hospital.

Sources at the Hospital told JoyNews that the deceased was brought in by his son, Bice Osei Kuffour popularly known as Obour on Thursday showing symptoms of the virus.

He is said to have initially failed to disclose the travel history of the patient who had recently returned from a trip to the United Kingdom.

About 15 workers who were on duty at the time are currently under self-quarantine as contact tracing is currently ongoing to prevent possible infections after test results of the deceased returned positive.

But Kojo Oppong Nkrumah believes situations such as these while putting health care professionals at risk also reduce “the number of healthcare workers that we have to attend to other cases that may come.”

At Sunday’s press briefing, the Information Minister said, “we have recorded incidents where persons who eventually test positive initially withhold relevant information from doctors and nurses.”

He added that “it is very unhelpful to the cause. It puts our healthcare workers at unnecessary risk.”

He further cautioned that: “You have no reason or basis to withhold relevant information such as your travel history etc… which may be necessary to help them to ensure that they are well protected and your care is activated as quickly as possible.”

Government says these measure if strictly adhered to will assist the country’s fight towards containing the spread of Covid-19.

Source:Fiilafmonline/JoyNews