The government has refuted suggestions it is underreporting fatalities from the novel coronavirus after accusations by pressure group OccupyGhana.
Government has attributed the possible disparities in the death figures to the difference between regional situation reports and the national validation process.
In a statement, OccupyGhana questioned the supposed disparities in the COVID-19 death toll in Ghana, which at the time was 54.
Thirty-eight deaths had been reported from the Ashanti Region, according to a situational report, but according to OccupyGhana, this was not captured in the national count.
In response to concerns at a press conference on Tuesday, the Ghana Health Service Director-General, Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye noted that the state was not just concerned with pure numbers.
He explained that once a death is reported in a region, a case management team audits the cause of death, how it was managed among other variables as part of the validation process.
“Nobody is deliberately hoarding numbers. We know the situation reports are there… but there is a process because we aren’t interested in just the numbers but also validating and knowing what to do,” Dr. Kuma-Aboagye assured.
“As and when the case management team has a conference with the region, they will clear and the numbers go up,” he added.
Also on this issue, the Special Advisor on Health at the Presidency, Dr. Anthony Nsiah Asare stressed that the Presidency relied on data from the Ghana Health Service and other implementing agencies “leading the fight.”
“We don’t generate any figures from the policy level… the Presidency doesn’t generate figures.”
“We see the figure as you have seen them. We then use the figures to plan and monitor whatever is going on,” Dr. Nsiah Asare said.
Currently, 58 persons who tested positive for novel coronavirus in Ghana have been confirmed dead.
Most of the fatalities had underlying conditions.
The cases of the virus in Ghana have increased to 12,193 with the recoveries also rising to 4,326.
Source: citinewsroom
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