COVID-19 kills third doctor in Ghana
A respected consultant surgeon at the Trust Hospital has died from COVID-19.
Dr. Richard Kisser, passed on at the University of Ghana Medical Centre (UGMC) where, coincidentally, a consultant physician and former Rector of the Physicians and Surgeons College, Prof. Jacob Plange-Rhule, died in April.
A statement issued by the Trust Hospital said the renowned surgeon died on Thursday, July 2, 2020.
“We regret to inform all staff of the passing of our consultant surgeon, Dr. Richard Kisser. The sad event occurred on Thursday 2nd of July 2020 at the University of Ghana Medical Centre (UGMC) where he was receiving treatment for COV1D-19 complications. May his soul rest in perfect peace,” the SSNIT-owned hospital said.
Dr Kisser is the third Ghanaian doctor to die from the dreaded virus, which has infected hundreds of Ghanaian healthcare professionals.
In June, the Medical Superintendent of the Kwadaso SDA Hospital, Dr Harry Owusu Boateng, died of COVID-19. The 48-year-old medical doctor died at home on Saturday, June 13, 2020, a few days after he complained of being unwell.
This was in spite of a desperate last-minute effort by the Presidency to get him life-saving medication from Kenya.’
Ghana’s presidential aircraft jetted off to the East African country to get the medication, which research from China showed could be administered to coronavirus patients before the disease got to an inflammatory stage.
But the trip proved futile as the drug arrived in the evening while the respected medical doctor died in the morning.
A laboratory technician also died of coronavirus, leaving behind a wife and a two-month-old baby.
He was a staff at the Weija-Gbawe Municipal hospital in the Greater Accra Region, and died on Monday, June 22, 2020, at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital.
The death of a community health nurse was also reported in May.
More than 160 health workers have contracted coronavirus as at the time of this report. They have complained about inadequate protection in their line of work.
Prof. Plange Rhule is not a surgeon but rather a consultant physician. If you mean a specialist then this is rather the third not the second. Dr. Harry Boateng.
Dr. Harry Boateng is the second.