The Ghana Medical Association (GMA) says available data suggests that the country is witnessing its third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Speaking on Newsfile on Saturday, July 24, 2021, the General Secretary of the Association, Dr Justice Yankson, said facilities responsible for managing Covid-19 cases are getting choked with infected victims.

“If you look at one of our foremost places for case management, the Ghana Infectious Diseases Centre (GIDC), it is getting choked.”

Giving a breakdown, he indicated that in June, the GIDC saw only eight patients, however, the numbers have increased significantly in July to about 150 patients at the OPD level. Again, there are more than 50 patients at the HDU-ICU department, among others.

Also, the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital and other hospitals are struggling to find places for patients to receive treatment.

“If you look at all the statistics, you’ll see that the wave is here with us. We haven’t reached its peak but it’s here with us.

“People are dying in transit. Not long ago, the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital was not seeing cases. Now, it is struggling to find ICU places for patients. If you go to the Police Hospital, Ridge, and other facilities, the situation is the same there,” he said.

Dr Yankson blamed the development on the lack of proper enforcement of the Covid-19 safety protocols in the country, adding that since the country is nowhere near herd immunity, with regards to the current numbers that have been vaccinated, it is only prudent that the protocols are strictly enforced and observed.

“It looks as if we are not learning lessons from what happened to us previously, because looking at the approach, government is refusing to enforce the protocols which are our best bet for now. Leadership is not setting any examples for us.

“As for vaccination, we are on our knees. As of now, 1% of our population will not help us in any way in terms of prevention or mitigating the potential impact of the virus on us.

“We haven’t gotten anywhere near herd immunity, so the protocols are our best bet and at the state level, the enforcement is not happening.

He used the platform to urge government to show leadership by enforcing the protocols that were outlined by the President, the Ghana Health Service and the World Health Organisation.

“As for the health professionals, we will do our best, but some of the activities go beyond us. The state [therefore] must show leadership by enforcing the laws.

“Let’s accept that the third wave is here with us, though we haven’t reached its peak, it is here, and take the steps that will help us slow down that wave, mitigate our potential losses in terms of death and infections and what have you. [Otherwise] if we don’t take the steps that will help us break the chain of transmission, we are in trouble,” he added.