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Dr Anthony Nsiah-Asare, the Special Health Advisor to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has expressed worry about the overfocus on the COVID-19 pandemic to the detriment of other deadly sicknesses in the country claiming more lives faster than the global pandemic.

According to him, since the outbreak of the pandemic in the country, it seems all attention have been given to the novel coronavirus but there are equally other diseases such as; hypertension, kidney disease, breast cancer, cholera, typhoid, pulmonary tuberculosis, HIV among others that are claiming lives at a faster rate.

Speaking on Okay FM’s 'Ade Akye Abia' Morning Show, the former Director-General of the Ghana Health Service alluded to the fact that if care is not taken, due to the excessive attention given to the COVID-19, malaria and hypertension patients will be asked to go for the COVID-19 test before they are treated of their actual illnesses.

“It is not only COVID-19 case we have at the hospitals. What worries me is that it seems all the attention has been given to the virus. If someone is suffering from malaria or hypertension and the person needs to be treated of such illness, you will be told to go for COVID-19 test before you are operated on,” he bemoaned.

He reiterated that inasmuch as it is important to protect Ghanaians from the COVID-19, it is equally significant not to neglect other deadly diseases, stressing that the health workers must be made to work on other illness as well as the COVID-19 in order not to be taken by surprise.

He added that the government is on a discussion table with the health workers in order not to overly focus only on the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving other equally deadly illness to have a tow on the general public.

“If we don’t take care, those who are not supposed to die out of other illness may not survive by the time we are done with the COVID-19,” he indicated.

To him, the whole world is talking about the COVID-19 due to its novelty, hence, the attention dedicated to it.