The acting Director of the Ghana Infectious Diseases Centre (GIDC), Dr Joseph Adjetey Oliver-Commey, has advised the public against self-medication and rather seek early medication to help avert the rise in the rate of fatalities from the COVID-19.
He said self-medication was becoming a major problem in managing the national COVID-19 burden.
Dr Oliver-Commey, who is also a member of the National COVID-19 Management Team, said there was enough evidence to prove that apart from the fact that the mutated strain of the virus was causing severer disease in people exposed to it than the traditional form of the virus, self-medication was a major phenomenon complicating the already bad situation and contributing to an increase in mortality.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic in Accra last Friday, he advised Ghanaians to seek early treatment, instead of waiting until the situation deteriorated before reporting to hospital in order to increase their survival rate.
He explained that the severity of cases caused by the new strain required that people exposed to it report to hospital on time because early intervention was life-saving.
The acting Director of the GIDC said with information now widely available, people were resorting to self-medication, which was putting their lives at risk, just as self-medication did in all medical conditions.
“Unfortunately, people who have tested for the virus in private facilities and are positive and people who feel they are exposed to the virus are resorting to either prescriptions on the Internet or prescriptions over the phone from some health professionals.
“These doctors write and sign such prescriptions, screen and send them to their clients through various phone messaging and email platforms.
Others also sit at home and take all kinds of concoctions, and by the time they feel worse and report to hospital, their situation is near death already.
“Everybody has become an expert, led by the doctors, the nurses, the laboratory scientists. Friends are also sharing their prescriptions. It is contributing to the current problem that we have.
Source:Fiilafmonline/Graphic
