From recent happenings in various senior high schools across the country, it is apparent that the prevailing situation of high school health in Ghana needs to be seriously questioned. While the heartbreaking and panic inciting outbreak of diseases and deaths at the Kumasi Academy is till on ground, reports have come in that 20 students of the St. Martins Senior High school located in Nsawam in the Eastern Region have been hospitalized after they collapsed between Sunday night and Monday morning.
According to a student, who spoke to Starr FM, many of her fellow students collapsed Sunday night during Prep and Monday morning during assembly and were all rushed to the Nsawam government hospital respectively. Some of them were said to have had asthma attacks while the illnesses of others are yet unknown, the student said.
In a clearer analysis, the Senior House Master of the school, Dominic Antwi who spoke to Joy News‘ Gifty Andoh on The Pulse programme, eight students were first rushed to the hospital Sunday. Some of them were treated and discharged, but one of the discharged persons collapsed on Monday morning. The collapsed person, whom he said is currently in a stable condition, was part of 12 others who reported sick at the hospital later Monday.
The incident has been confirmed by the Nsawam Municipal Education Directorate and they say they are still gathering more facts on the matter and also waiting for doctor’s reports on the admitted students. The St. martins School’s authority has however, allayed the fears of students and parents by cancelling out the possibility of an epidermic, saying that the situation is normal, especially while considering the change of weather coupled with the ongoing termly exams.
Also See: Meningitis Ruled Out in Kumasi Academy Deaths
The St. Martins SHS incident comes on the heels of a similar episode at the Kumasi Academy where scores of students have been hospitalised recently following the spread of a suspected infection in the school’s campus. The epidermic has so far led to the death of four students who lost their lived between Thursday, 30th November and Tuesday, 5th December, 2017 while some others are still receiving treatments.
It has also been reported that a male student of the Koforidua SECTEC died of a suspected case of meningitis on Friday, December 8.
While some are attributing the poor condition of high school health in Ghana and its increased resultant effects to the newly introduced free senior high school education program, others are arguing that the menace have been in existence long before the free education policy was implemented.
Whatever be the case, Ghanaians especially parents are sincerely hoping that government looks into the matter to bring about significant changes that will put a stop to the problem.
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