By Sarah Ofori
The year began with a surge in the country’s COVID-19 active cases. Close to a thousand new cases were recorded on a daily basis, at one point, active cases stood at 13,576. Ghana’s total case count stood at 148,079, with 1,313 deaths and 133,190 recoveries. The Ghana Health Service also approved the administration of COVID-19 vaccine Pfizer to pregnant women in Ghana. Within that same period, the Ghana Health Service began administering COVID-19 booster shots.
The Ghana Association of Certified Registered Anesthetists laid down their tools on January 1, 2022, following the expiration of their licence to operate. Members of the group refused to renew their licences with the Medical and Dental Council due to the council’s failure to champion anesthetists’ interests.
The outbreak of Avian Influenza on some poultry farms in the Sunyani West and Sunyani Municipalities led to the destruction of over 40,00 birds along with huge quantities of eggs and poultry feed. The Ashanti region also recorded cases of bird flu, with a total of 18 thousand birds destroyed to prevent the spread of the disease in and around nearby farms.
As part of measures to cushion the farmers, the government released over 20 million to the 167 farms that were affected by the outbreak.
President Akufo-Addo donated ¢100,000 as seed fund for the police emergency medical Intervention Fund. The President also inaugurated an Out-Patients Department built at a cost of 180,000 cedis to ease pressure on the existing one and enhance quality healthcare delivery at the Police Hospital in Accra.
The FDA advised the public to patronise only registered sachets and bottled water manufactured in Ghana that bear the FDA product registration numbers. Also, the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) recalled over fifty-seven thousand cans of coagulated Ideal and Carnation milk from the market following complaints from some consumers. Meanwhile, the East Legon branch of Marwako restaurant was closed down by the FDA after widespread reports of food poisoning on social media. Management of Marwako, in response, apologised to all affected customers.
The German Development Agency and the European Union supported the FDA with a grant of five million and two point eight four million Euros respectively, to enable the FDA to enhance its capacity to ensure the quality, safety, and efficacy of locally manufactured vaccines to meet international standards. The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) also assured the public that no contaminated sausages had been found on the Ghanaian market. The assurance came after the authority got wind of the recall of Agricola Tre Vali sausage products due to the presence of Listeria bacteria in the sausages made from poultry meat. Just about a fortnight to the yuletide and the FDA again cautioned consumers to beware of what they bought from the markets when it engaged traders at the Kaneshie market on food-borne diseases.
The Health Facilities Regulatory Agency, HEFRA also raised concerns over the reluctance of the state to prosecute individuals who operated health facilities without proper license. This followed the arrest of 23 unregistered, quack medical Practitioners in a joint operation by the Medical and Dental Council and the Ghana Police Service.
One person was confirmed dead from Monkeypox in the Bolgatanga Municipality of the Upper East Region, while two people died of meningitis out of the six cases recorded at Nandom in the Upper West Region.
The Ear, Nose and Throat unit of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, in partnership with the MED-EL Cochlea Implant Company, conducted the second cycle of cochlea implants surgery.
A vagrant and mentally ill woman who stoned a twenty-five-year-old man to death at the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange was admitted at the Accra Psychiatric Hospital for assessment. During Mental Health Awareness Month, it was noted that stigmatisation and discrimination were a bane, preventing individuals from enjoying social inclusion and access to mental healthcare. Reviewing the Mental Health Act 2012 (Act 846), ten years after its enactment, it was noted that the human rights of patients had not been upheld and mental healthcare at the primary healthcare level was lacking.
Over three thousand registered nurses were reported to have left the country for greener pastures due to poor working conditions. This led to a deficit in Ghana’s healthcare system.
The Northern Regional Directorate of the Ghana Health Service launched a regional polio vaccination campaign to prevent an outbreak of the virus in the region after the detection of the virus in water samples from some drains in the Tamale and Sagnerigu Municipality. Over 6.6 million children under 5 were fully vaccinated in the two rounds of the polio vaccine campaign across the 16 regions.
The Rotary Club raised $150 million dollars from its members to support World Polio Day. PHN: polio22.
The Ghana Health Service (GHS) embarked on a mass deworming exercise nationwide in the country from November 21 to December 9, 2022. About 1.94 million schoolchildren; aged between five and 14, benefited from the exercise.
The Ghana AIDS Commission was concerned about how complacent Ghanaians had become with HIV/AIDS. With a surge in cases among the youth, the commemoration of the 2022 World AIDS Day and the 20th anniversary of the Ghana AIDS Commission focused on how to save twenty million people in Africa living with HIV.
One of the conjoined twins who were separated at the Greater Accra Regional Hospital succumbed for the other to live. A team of specialists numbering one hundred and sixty-four conducted the surgery.
