The Minority in Parliament has requested an urgent update from the Minister of Health regarding the substantial danger to public safety caused by stationary floodwaters, accumulated rubbish, and breached drainage systems.
Addressing journalists within the parliamentary precinct, Minority Leader Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin, the Member of Parliament for Efutu, highlighted the pressing issues initially brought forward by the Member of Parliament for Effiduase/Asokore, Nana Ayew Afriye, during a legislative session.
Afenyo-Markin stated: “Flooding of this scale carries a public health dimension that cannot be left unaddressed. And our respected colleague Nana Ayew Afriye raises on the house floor.
Stagnant flood water mixed with uncollected refuge and overflowing sanitation facilities create conditions for the rapid spread of communicable diseases including cholera, typhoid and other waterborne and doctorborne illnesses.”
The opposition leader insisted that the legislature receives full disclosure regarding the contingency strategies deployed to manage the situation.
He further noted: “The minority is therefore present for an urgent and substantive briefing to this house by the Minister for Health setting out precisely what steps are being taken to monitor affected communities for early signs of disease outbreak. What emergency sanitation, clean water and medical supplies have been deployed to flood heat areas and what surveillance and rapid response systems are in place should an outbreak occur? This briefing must happen without delay.”
Expressing serious concern over the potential for a secondary crisis, Afenyo-Markin stressed that the nation must prevent a major medical emergency from aggravating the current flooding disaster, concluding with the warning: “The country cannot afford a public health crisis compounding a disaster that was itself avoidable.”
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
