Nobody is cooking up COVID-19 figures – Gov’t fights back
The government has rejected suggestions of under-reporting of coronavirus deaths in the country after theghanareport.com exposed altering of figures.
Health officials have tried to defend the low death toll at Tuesday’s Weekly Press Briefing.
Documents available to theghanareport.com points to the contrary.
The Ashanti Region, for example, had 38 deaths at the time the Ghana Health Service was reporting 14 COVID-19 mortalities.
EXCLUSIVE: Ghana’s COVID 19 death more than what government reports
Other Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) such as OccupyGhana have expressed scepticism about government’s figures.
OccupyGhana notes in a statement that “there is cause to suspect that the death numbers are being massaged.”
In response, the Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, explains that various processes and validation are undertaken once any mortality is reported.
Hence COVID-19 deaths may delay and likely to be lower than what is contained in situational reports released from the various districts and regions.
According to him, as soon as a coronavirus-related death is reported, a case management team holds a conference with local health authorities to conduct an audit.
The players take stock of the cause of death, how the case was managed and other essential details.
“As soon as that is done, they are added [ to the official figures]. So, you may see a region reporting a certain number, but we are not only interested in the number. We want to know whether the treatment was appropriate, where are they coming from…,” he elaborated.
He emphasised that “Nobody is deliberately” altering numbers.
On his part, the former Director-General of the GHS and the Presidential Advisor on Health, Dr Anthony Nsiah Asare, refuted that the tampering of the figure was from the presidency.
He said the Presidential Task Force does not generate any figures, but an implementing agency tasked with policy guidelines.
“The presidency does not generate any figures. We see the figures, and then we use the figures to plan and monitor whatever is going on,” emphasised.
Meanwhile, Ghana’s coronavirus caseload has surged to 12,193 with 4,326 recoveries.
The number of deaths has also increased from 54 to 58.