Executive Director of the African Center for Health Policy Research and Analysis, Dr Thomas Anaba, has lamented the current predicament of vaccines shortages in healthcare centers, questioning why government will celebrate the country’s Independence Day, knowing the dangers of such shortages.
According to him, the impact of such shortages on the overall health of children who miss out on these shots will bring untoward hardships to them.
“Do you know what will happen to a child who gets polio today? In 10- or 20-years’ time he will be disabled probably in the streets begging… We will have children who will be vegetables lying in their homes if they get measles. Will we be proud of that? I don’t see why we should celebrate independence if we don’t have vaccines for our children. I have seen other countries use the money for independence to do communal labor, cleaning of communities.”
Dr Thomas Anaba
Already, some high number of cases of measles have been recorded in the northern part of Ghana. Last week, officials of the Health Ministry and the Ghana Health Service blamed various factors, including the recent rapid cedi depreciation for their failure to procure the products.
While the Health Minister is yet to officially come clear on the rationale for the inadequacy, healthcare practitioners are predicting doom if nothing is done.
Reacting to Independence anniversary celebration, Dr Thomas Anaba, indicated that it will be misplaced if government goes ahead with the planned pomp and pageantry for the country’s anniversary celebration at the expense of the newborns. He insisted that prioritizing neo-natal health should supersede every other issue even as Ghana celebrates 66 years of independence on March 6, 2023.
The former Medical Director of Ridge Hospital further demanded that the health minister takes steps to ameliorate the situation.
Over 100 children in Northern region suspected to have contracted Measels
Meanwhile, the President-elect for the Pediatrics Society of Ghana, Dr Hilda Mantebea Boye, has revealed that over 100 children in the northern part of Ghana are suspected to have contracted measles. To this end, she called on government to pay attention to ensure the newborns are healthy.
The daunting figures of shortage of baby vaccines nationwide extends to the country running out of essential BCG and OPV vaccines as a result of the Ministry of Health’s failure to secure procurement of these vaccines since the year began.
The BCG vaccine is primarily needed to prevent the occurrence of tuberculosis in babies, while the OPV is to prevent polio infections. Other essential vaccines to prevent diseases such as measles, whooping cough, etc. are also in short supply.
In responding to this, Dr Mantebea Boye stated that the cases are likely to increase if an intervention is not carried out immediately.
“At the last count in the northern region, we have more than a hundred children who we suspect have measles and it is very worrying to us. This is something ongoing, so data is still being collected and because of the shortage of vaccines, we expect that many more children could be affected by this. So, the infection is likely to rise as the days go by.”
Dr Hilda Mantebea Boye
Prior to this, the Majority Chief Whip in Parliament, Frank Annoh-Dompreh, indicated that the country will take stock of some measles vaccines from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in the next two weeks. Currently, nursing mothers have been moving to health centers in a bid to secure unavailable vaccines which are posing a huge threat to the healthcare delivery system.
Experts fear that this may lead to a full-blown outbreak among babies.
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