The General Secretary of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA), Dr. Titus Kofi-Beyuo has welcome the ease of restrictions pronounced by the President of Ghana in the recent 28th Covid-19 Update over the weekend.
Looking at the science and data available, the health practitioner believes the ease of restrictions is a call in the right direction.
He said, “We welcome the statement and announcement made by the President. We think the easing of these restrictions are justified by our current situation”.
“If you look at the science and the data that is available before us I don’t see any reason why we can’t ease the restorations”, the Secretary added.
Even though Covid-19 is still around, the rate of infection is low and many countries have started moving towards normalcy, by this Dr. Titus acknowledged that:
“Also bearing in mind that it is possible that we are going to live with this virus for a pretty long time. So we have to find a way of bring lives back to normalcy. As of now we don’t have any pressing danger for which reason we need to continue all the restrictions as they were before”.
Speaking on Eyewitness news on Citi Fm yesterday, Dr. Titus indicated that the decision was based on governanment’s understanding of the science and data available, it is not by copying from other places.
“I don’t think we are learning this from anywhere. We are taking the decision based on our science and I know the task force consulted broadly…. other countries had to learn from Ghana, our tactics as well. So I think that we are not copying directly from somewhere else. But per consultations and our national data, this is the direction that Government has taken and upon consultation with all the medical authorities we think it in the right direction”, Dr. Titus indicated.
The President over the weekend gave a Covid-19 address where he eased almost all Covid-19 restrictions including the mandatory wearing of nose masks in public places. All land borders have been opened and events can now take full capacity. However, vaccination is required for all into these places. Testing at airports are not required for persons who are fully vaccinated and many others.
The Association believes that per the knowledge and what they know about Covid-19 now, compared to when the virus first entered the country, the country is well prepared and he is confident they can handle any wave that comes again.
“Our current understanding of this virus was not the same at the time when it first came. At the time even when you had only one case, we did not purely understand how it was going to behave in the society. At that time we did not have vaccination in force. Vaccines had not been developed. In terms of if you localise the information, our preparedness as a nation then in terms of our ICU capacity, in terms of our workforce training capacity, PPEs supplies, quarantine centers, it is never the same as it has been today. I dare say that should we have another wave of the Covid-19 we are in a better place to handle it now than when it first came.
And so if we are down and we have been able to wave down successfully, and we are also doing vaccinations I do not see why we cannot ease these restrictions”.
