Cholera outbreak kills 15 in Accra

Fifteen cholera patients are reported dead, out of over 870 cases in the Greater Accra Region since June this year.

Between June and July, the Greater Accra region has recorded a total of 878 cholera cases with the Accra metropolis alone recording 604 of the cases and eight deaths.

Joy News' Joseph Opoku Gakpo reported that as at 5 p.m. Tuesday, the Regional Health Directorate had compiled about 200 cases from health facilities in the metropolis.

In the Ga West Municipality 10 cases have been recorded; Ga South, 4; La Kwantana district, 12 and the La Dadekotokpon, 20, bringing the total to 176 cases.

Cholera is a disease contracted through faeces, and thus, people have been advised to wash their hands after visiting the toilets, apply good sanitation in their environments, and observe personal hygiene.

The public is expected to eat food while hot.

Health officials at the La General Hospital in Accra were compelled to turn away cholera patients since there were inadequate beds to contain the affected patients.

The infirmary has so far recorded more than 170 cholera cases with five deaths.

Early today, the hospital turned its Out Patient Department (OPD) into a cholera unit to treat patients.

Nurses and doctors said the situation was overwhelming.

In March 2011, statistics on cholera in the Greater Accra region showed that 4,190 cases were recorded with 36 deaths.