The Ghana Medical Association (GMA) has attributed the rise in Covid-19 related deaths to inadequate logistics and overstretched facilities as the country’s cases rise.

In an interview, the Association’s General Secretary, Dr Justice Yankson, revealed that Covid-19 patients who need to be transferred or referred for specialised treatment in well-resourced health facilities sometimes die due to the unavailability of beds.

“Our capacity for severe and critical cases are overstretched, and we can’t continue that way because this variant comes along with high viral loads and high or severe disease burden and a lot more people are dying in transit trying to access furnished health facilities that are now overstretched.

“So for instance, if a patient is referred to another hospital there are complaints like; lack of space and beds. So by the time the call comes through that the patient can be moved, the person is already dead,” he stated.

Mr Yankson subsequently charged government to resolve all the impediments that are making people pay with their lives as a matter of urgency.  

The General Secretary also cited that the Delta Variant is causing patients to stay longer in hospitals.

This, he added, is making the work of the health professionals even more difficult.