These KUMACA Deaths Are Worrying!

So far, it has been reported that eleven (11) students of Kumasi Academy (KUMACA) in the Ashanti Region have died under very mysterious circumstances since April 2017. That is not all; we are also being told that the number of students currently on admission has soared to forty-four (44), heightening fear and panic amongst both the students and their parents, with teaching and non-teaching staff not left out.

Sadly, a female student died just this past Tuesday [December 07, 2017] with scores of the students collapsing on this same day. It is not surprising at all to hear that parents who have their wards at KUMACA are becoming worried with each passing day.

In our view, that is to be expected, especially when no antidote has been found to the problem and all that we continue to hear is one death and the other. However, it is refreshing that a team of medical experts from the Disease Surveillance Department of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) are looking into the continuous deaths at KUMACA, coupled with the fact that the health Minister, Kwaku Agyemang-Manu, has disclosed that about GHC100,000 has been released for initial public health interventions.

We are also being told that officials from the World Health Organisation (WHO) have visited the school to distribute Azithromycin, an antibiotic, all in an effort to contain the situation. Though refreshing, Today cannot fathom why since the first incident was reported somewhere in April this year, we have not been able to find a cure to whatever disease that has struck KUMACA.

That is what has given room for all kinds of meanings to be read into the deaths at KUMACA. And interestingly there is a school of thought who is attributing the situation at Kumasi Academy to some sort of spiritual forces.

Well, we are not ready to go into that but what Today is concerned about now is how to prevent further death(s). Is there a plan in place now to ensure that we do not witness the next dead person at KUMACA? This is what we should be aiming—preventing anymore deaths at the school.

Today is particularly concerned about the plights of students. And this is where we are urging government to act with a sense of urgency to save the lives of students of KUMACA.

We must treat it as a national issue and deploy all available state resources to end these painful deaths at KUMACA!