The Tema General Hospital in the Greater Accra Region has shut down its Paediatric Unit for emergency disinfection following reports that some workers have been exposed to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

Two units at the hospital — Paediatric Medical Ward and Children Emergency, — which were said to have been exposed to the virus, will remain closed until further notice.

The Daily Graphic was informed yesterday that two medical doctors at the hospital are among health workers who came into contact with someone said to be COVID-19 positive.

The Tema General Hospital serves as a treatment and isolation centre for COVID-19 cases.

The Clinical Coordinator at the hospital, Dr Augustine Kwashie, in an interview with the Daily Graphic yesterday said the hospital had information that two of its staff had come into contact with someone with the disease.

“We were puzzled as to the source of the infection so management has had to close down the unit for disinfection,” he said.

Dr Kwashie said health workers at the unit had been placed in mandatory quarantine while samples from them have been taken to the laboratory for testing to ascertain their status.

He will, however, not state the total number of staff placed on mandatory quarantine.

Alternatives

Dr Kwashie said with the shutdown, patients could not access healthcare services at the paediatric unit since the critical staff that would attend to them had been placed in isolation.

He said the hospital management had made arrangements for critically ill patients to be cared for in other units and wards of the facility while clients with new cases had been advised to visit other facilities in the metropolis.

Sanitisation

Following the reported COVID-19 case at the Tema General Hospital, the Tema Chapter of the International Lions Club, in collaboration with JEM Intercontinental Services Ghana, a pest control company, has fumigated the Paediatric Medical Ward and the Children’s Emergency Ward.

The exercise was targeted at curbing the spread of the coronavirus in the affected and adjoining wards.

The President of the Tema Chapter of the International Lions Club, Mr Kofi Dzambo, said the exercise formed part of the club’s annual programme dubbed “Protecting the Environment”.

He explained that the Lions Club carried out a detailed fumigation and disinfection of the hospital last week to put the facility in a much safer state.

The exercise, he said, covered the Out Patients Department (OPD) and surrounding buildings, male and female Surgical Wards, Children’s Ward, Accident Recovery Ward, Adult Emergency Ward, Maternity Ward, Pharmacy, Laboratory, Archives, Administration Block, Accounts Department and Stores.

Following the latest incident at the Children’s Ward, the club was approached by the hospital management to carry out an emergency disinfection of the ward.