<<Print>>

The Divisional Chairman of the Ghana Medical Association in the Ashanti Region, Dr Paa Kwesi Baidoo has said that the use of cloth masks is not effective in health environments and therefore has urged health workers not to expose themselves by using those masks as they perform their duties.

He was worried about how some Hospital Managers and Administrators in their quest of cutting down cost have been denying their workers' prescribed surgical masks.

Speaking on Kumasi based Hello FM with King Edward, Dr Paa Kwesi Baidoo said some health workers claimed they hardly communicate well with patients during the consultation period which according to him exposes both parties to the virus.

He was reacting to the increasing rate of Coronavirus infections among health workers.

Some Health workers are now contracting the virus in their line of duty.

Ashanti Region alone has recorded 30 cases.

Dr Paa Kwesi Baidoo said as Health workers especially frontline workers they must always insist on PPEs because it’s their right.

A Virologist at the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine (KCCR), Dr Michael Owusu also commenting on the risk factors of health workers, advised that health workers with underlying health conditions be withdrawn from the frontline to low-risk areas.

Currently, 90,000 Health workers are being infected with the virus worldwide with Africa alone recording 5,011 cases.

Dr Michael Owusu also called against the usage of cloth masks in hospitals.

However, he admitted that social distancing cannot be properly observed in the various health institutions therefore the need for health workers to be provided surgical masks.

When asked about if the country is ready to reopen schools, Dr Michael Owusu posited that the country can only reopen schools provided they have enough data on the vulnerable groups regarding the recovery rate and infected.

Ghana has recorded 6,617 cases with 1,976 recoveries and 31 deaths as at Saturday, May 23.