We Welcome Any Drug That Can Treat COVID-19, But . . . - GMA Prez
The Ghana Medical Association (GMA) says it welcomes any drug that has the potency to fight COVID-19.
However, the group said, that particular medication must be adequately tested and approved by the necessary regulatory bodies for the treatment of infected patients.
Speaking on Okay FM’s Ade Akye Abia, President of the GMA, Dr. Frank Ankobea, explained that there are a lot of drugs that are being touted as having the ability to cure COVID-19, but he can not ascertain or approve their efficacies.
"All that we are praying for is we get an antidote to end this menace, so as practitioners if we are given a recommended drug to administer to patients of COVID-19, we will not hesitate to do that.
"But, the Ghana Medical Association can not as an institution approve or disapprove any drug; be it herbal or orthodox for the treatment of COVID-19," he pointed out.
Ghana's COVID-19 cases have increased from 4,263 to 4,700 in just a matter of days and many Ghanaians are already worried because the country keeps recording higher figures of the pandemic.
In his ninth update on COVID-19 on Sunday, May 10, 2020, the President HE Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo explained that doing a lot of tests to discover infected persons is the surest way to fight the pandemic and ensure the safety of the entire nation.
"Indeed, had we not been proactive in undertaking enhanced contact tracing of infected persons, and had relied solely on testing persons who reported to the hospital, which is the practice followed by some other countries, i.e. routine testing, our total case count who have stood at 1,413," Nana Akufo-Addo said in his televised address.
Regardless of the recent case count, the President says there is no cause for alarm.
"We must understand that the more people we test for the virus, the more persons we will discover as positive, and, thus, have the opportunity to isolate and treat them. If you do not test people for the virus, you will not find the persons who are positive, let alone isolate them from the population and treat them, and prevent them from spreading the virus," he said.
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