Story: News DESK
Over 100 children in the northern part of Ghana are suspected to have contracted measles.
This is according to the President-elect for the Paediatrics Society of Ghana, Dr Hilda Mantebea Boye.
The figures come amid the shortage of baby vaccines nationwide.
Ghana ran out of essential BCG and OPV vaccines as a result of the Ministry of Health’s failure to secure procurement of these vaccines since the year began. The BCG vaccine is primarily needed to prevent the occurrence of tuberculosis in babies, while the OPV is to prevent polio infections.
Other essential vaccines to prevent diseases such as measles, whooping cough, etc. are also in short supply.
On the back of this, Dr Mantebea Boye on JoyNews’ The Probe which was monoitored by todaygh.com said the cases were likely to increase if an intervention was not carried out immediately.
“At the last count in the northern region, we have more than a hundred children who we suspect have measles. And it is very worrying to us.
“This is something ongoing so data is still being collected and because of the shortage of vaccines we expect that many more children could be affected by this. So the infection is likely to rise as the days go by,” she said on Sunday.
Meanwhile former President John Dramani Mahama has urged President Nana Akufo-Addo to sacrifice funds being used to organize this year’s Independence Day celebration to fix the shortage of child vaccines that has hit the country.
Mr. Mahama who was speaking during an interaction with National Democratic Congress party delegates in Mepe in the North Tongu Constituency of the Volta Region, on Saturday, said he was left worried when he read about the vaccine shortage in the media.
He believed the elaborate celebration was needless in the face of all the economic challenges that currently confront the nation.
”Today I was very sad when I was reading in the media, and it said that for very first time in the 4th Republic, since 1992, today we are short of some childhood vaccines, he said.”