Features
Danger posed by unreasonable fear of COVID-19
The recent death of a student at KNUST SHS, Kumasi, has painfully brought home the need to urgently deal with unnecessary fear of COVID-19. The fear of this pandemic, if not properly and immediately addressed, would result in a lot of preventable deaths.
I cannot begin to imagine the pain the parents of this deceased young man are going through. As a parent with two children at the same level, my preoccupation with this story is understandable because it could happen to anybody.
Imagine your child is not sick and you are suddenly informed that he had passed away; if you are not mentally strong, you can go mad or get a heart attack. All because people who should have known better and demonstrated compassion as the ethics of their profession demands, were rather paralysed by fear and to some extent “wicked” indifference, leading to the death of an innocent student.
The relevance of my article published two weeks ago about recruitment is clearly borne out by this sad incident. Until we pay attention to proper recruitment systems so that we recruit the right people into our public and civil service, even in the private sector, these are the horrible things we are likely to experience as a nation.
The life of a young man just cut short simply due to the suspicion that he was suffering from COVID-19 and the fear that if the people around him tried to help him they may contract the disease.
The video that was shown on TV revealing the attitude of some teachers standing nearby as some students tried to assist their friend who was suffering, demonstrates a certain lack of compassion which is very strange in people who are in the teaching profession.
The average teacher would quickly call for an ambulance or a taxi and dispatch the victim to the nearest hospital with speed.
Whether through ignorance or sensationalism, COVID-19 has been made to be viewed as a dangerous disease that can easily kill and, therefore, people are so afraid of it. The little I have read about this disease shows that it is not as dangerous as we perceive it to be and that when one observes the prescribed protocol, he or she would not be infected.
Currently, there is no vaccine but a lot of people who contracted it, have recovered from it. In fact, the health authorities have come out to say that the body’s immune system is able to fight the virus when detected early enough. It, therefore, is not something that is so life threatening that it should scare people beyond measure.
A few weeks ago, tears came into my eyes as I listened to a story on Asempa FM’s Ekosiisen programme about the death of a pregnant woman. The story, according to the husband of the deceased, the pregnant woman went into labour and was taken by her sister to a hospital at Nsawam since their town was along the Amasaman-Nsawam road, and I guess it was closer to Nsawam.
According to the husband, when his wife and her sister got to the hospital, she was coughing and a nurse on duty at the hospital asked that the pregnant woman be taken to a different hospital.
The explanation was that since she was coughing, the nurse suspected that she was suffering from COVID-19 and was not prepared to risk her life in attending to her. Try as she did, the sister could not persuade the nurse to attend to her pregnant sister, and even though the pregnant woman was in pain, this nurse could not be bothered.
The pregnant woman was then taken to another place after wasting about two hours at the hospital. The husband was then informed to come over, due to the situation to help transfer the wife to another hospital.
The long and short of it was that the lady lost her life in the long run together with her baby. I do not need to be a health specialist to conclude that this nurse in question has no passion for saving human life, and most likely is in the profession for economic reasons, not as a calling.
If care is not taken, there would be a lot more of such avoidable deaths before a vaccine is found and this disease is finally brought under control.
At the beginning of the institution of quarantine of suspected cases, there were rumours making the rounds of a case at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in which a Chinese who was suspected to be a COVID-19 positive, caused a pandemonium because no one was attending to him for fear of contracting the disease.
Apparently, after a while he was hungry and was not going to allow hunger to kill him, so he decided to go find something to eat and everybody was running away from him including security men.
I shudder to think of what would happen when people are confronted with an accident scene in this COVID-19 era and what their response would be. Already, fear of contracting HIV through assisting accident victims is an issue and now the invasion by COVID-19 has compounded the situation.
There are going to be a lot of situations like the ones already discussed, where lives are going to be lost due to fear of contracting the virus unless urgent steps are taken.
Education about the disease must be intensified so that people understand the nature of the virus, mode of transmission and the protective protocols that can be implemented to escape infection.
This would also enable potential helpers to become less afraid of the disease and be able to offer assistance to people who find themselves in emergency situations that are not related to the disease.
If the ordinary folks do not appreciate the general symptoms, anything can be considered to be a manifestation of COVID-19, and would be reluctant to offer help to victims of emergencies.
One of the important tools that can be used in demystifying the COVID-19 pandemic and the resultant fear and stigmatisation, is the use of volunteers who come out publicly to declare their COVID-free status after being cured of the disease.
Just as the volunteers who were used to fight stigmatisation in the HIV-AIDS disease, a similar method can be used to fight stigmatisation of the COVID-19 in Ghana.
It is only when people see COVID-19 as just another unfortunate disease that has afflicted mankind and it is not the fault of anybody who contracts it, that people’s attitude towards infected persons would change from scorn to sympathy and empathy.
The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, must be commended in this regard as he first announced that his Minister of Health had been infected with the virus, thereby demonstrating leadership at the highest level.
One man who cannot escape mention is one Dzrah, who volunteered way back to become an anti-stigmatisation ambassador and the mental torture he went through with his family.
Recently, other people have openly come to declare their status as COVID victims and have shared with us their health status after their healing.
This has started removing doubts from the minds of COVID-skeptic people and has also assured people that the virus can be dealt with if identified in time and treated.This would help shape mindsets and help in the fight against unnecessary fear of COVID-19 to avoid avoidable deaths.
The Average Citizen
Features
The Cop, press and lost fingers
The job of a policeman, whether he is short or tall, is not a cheap one. He is supposed to keep the peace, protect society and monitor the activities of local magicians and money doublers who are specialists in making civil servants lose their pay within seconds.
By far the most difficult job of the policeman is when he is expected to arrest a murderer who is not only armed but also has a record of appearing and disappearing at will. Even if the tough cop is in the company of other policemen all armed to the teeth, his stomach will turn to water when the criminal suddenly appears.
He is terrified not because the criminal is a better marksman, but because nobody dies twice. The problem also is that a criminal might be prepared to die in a bid to shoot his way to freedom. But is the police-man prepared to risk death in the course of duty when he has a family to rear.
If he had just acquired a new girlfriend with whom he is enjoying life, should he not run away with his tail between his legs and tell his boss that the criminal is uncatchable?
Before some policemen go on patrol duties, they actually pray solemnly. “God send me into the wilderness and bring me back safely with my nose intact because I’m worth more than a common rat. I also do not want to die like a stray dog. If a bullet is targeted at my forehead, Holy Spirit please let it go over the bar, because six children is not a small palaver. If I die, who will look after them? Lord keep me safe day by day. Amen!”
The Sikaman policeman’s job is a risky one because he is not properly equipped with even a trained dog to help track down criminals easily. So he has to use his own nose judiciously in sniffing out suspects while making sure a bullet doesn’t catch him square on the jaw.
My friend Sir Kofi Owuo, a.k.a. Death-By-Poverty was telling me journalists are in an even riskier profession. Apparently, he had been reading about the palaver of journalists in places like Algeria and Columbia. Algeria, even women journalists are not spared assassin’s bullet. You’d see them lying in front of their homes with their heads full of bullet holes.
In Columbia, no journalist is safe. When a journalist is leaving home, he has to tell his wife. “Darling, when I don’t come back by 7 p.m. check the mortuary
The drug trade in Columbia has made journalism a profession not worth practising. If you write on cocaine and the harm it is inflicting on society, you’ll certainly receive a phone call.
“Hello, Mr Journalist, your article yesterday was great. Congratulations! We never knew you were such brilliant writer, championing the cause of society. Again we say congrats! But you know something, by your article, you want to take the bread out of my and that of my family. You don’t want us to beak. We are aggrieved beyond measure”
“Oh, I was just… “You’d try to say something
“You don’t have to explain. The harm has already been done by your award-winning masterpiece. We have an appointment with you. You’ll hear from us.
Rest In Peace!” After such a phone call, you just have to pray to your soul, sing a hymn or two and get prepared fort appointment with death. For, death will surely come
I think pressmen in Sikaman would also have start informing their families appropriately before leaving for work now. “If I don’t come back early, I’m probably at the Ear, Nose and Throat Department of Korle- Bu checking a leakage in my left ear due to a gendarme slap from an AMA official. If you don’t see me there, track me down to the emergency ward. If you see a newly-made cripple, I’m the one”
What about referees? These days they are guarded during football matches so that the risk they bear in terms of lost teeth is minimal. Formerly, it used to be a job full of woes and tribulations.
You were expected to oversee a match in such way that would favour a particular team. If that is not done, you’ll get back home and your wife will not recognise you. She’ll mistake you for Frank Bruno who had just lost a bout. When she finally recognises you, she’ll fix some hot water to massage your poor face.
I hear that these days, apart from the protection referees receive, some are well-armed with Damfo Dzai, a kind of jack-knife that can carve a rowdy supporters face in several designs.
My Press Secretary and part-time bodyguard Devine Ankamah, was telling me if he happens to be a referee, he’d surely carry a Kalashnikov AK 47 rifle with him, complete with loaded magazine, before officiating matches. According to him, that is the only way to do the job without fear or favour. Anyone dares will lose his jaw.
Anyway, risky jobs require good remuneration. As Kwame Korkorti once said, risky jobs require risky salary. A policeman would require a good pay so that when a criminal targets his left ear it would be worth the ‘amputation’. Same for journalists and cameramen.
But go round private workplaces and factories and you’d see really risky occupations where workers are receiving salaries they can’t see with the naked eye.
In fact, in some private workplaces, environmental safety is completely absent. Workers breathe in fumes, poisonous gases and risk lung and respiratory problems. Their employers do nothing about protecting them against these hazards. Check out their payer.
In other places, workers have their fingers chopped off on the job, some losing as many as four fingers in stretch. The compensation they get can best be described as “wicked”. Their employers live big, chop big, ride big but are not willing to pay more than ¢120,000 for lost fingers.
Actually the more fingers you lose, the more money you get. So if you intend losing your fingers on the job, it is advisable to lose as many as possible so that you can get more cash. Those who have lost one finger have not benefited much and are encouraged to lose more next time around.
Sikaman Palava is undertaking to investigate some of these cases of very risky jobs in private setups and companies where workers are being exploited to unnecessarily but not offered protection against health hazards, and not properly compensated when they sustain injuries.
This article was first published on Saturday, September 28, 1996
Features
Position yourself for God’s blessings
Motivated by the impending 40-day fasting and needless to add prayer programme, preceding the Greater Works Conference scheduled for August in Accra, I would like to draw attention to how believers can receive blessings from God.
There is a scripture in Hebrews 11:5 that “By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: and before his translation, he had this testimony that he pleased God”.
This clearly shows that in order to receive blessings from God, you must please God. How can one please God? You can only please God by obeying him and walking in line with God’s word. Just like how children who obey their parents, enjoy special treatment, so does God deal with his children who obey his word.
There are ways by which people receive blessings from God and holiness is an important criteria in the whole equation. Holiness is a process and not a one day event.
It is a mindset borne out of walking in obedience to God’s instructions i.e. his word. In order to have a mindset of living to please God, requires studying God’s word coupled with praying and fasting.
This helps us to develop trust in God by knowing his nature, what he likes and dislikes. This is what will enable us to live to please him and for our faith in him also to increase.
The Bible says in Hebrews 11:6 that “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him”
Fasting is one of the required criteria for blessings to be released and it goes with prayer because fasting without prayer is just a physical exercise. Fasting enables a person’s inner man to be in tune with the spirit of God and also becomes spiritually empowered to hear from God and also obey God.
Fasting enables a person’s spirit to feed on God’s word in a much more focused manner as compared to studying God’s word in normal times. As a result our spirit gains the upper hand to dominate the body and the soul, so that we are more conscious of the presence of God in our lives which causes us willingly the desire to live to obey God.
Holiness which is a prerequisite for pleasing God, can only manifest in our lives if we are able to overcome the desires of the flesh and this only happens when the flesh is subject to the spirit.
Apostle Paul said that “But l keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means when I have preached to others, I myself should not be castaway”, according to 1 Corinthians 9:27.
In order to bring the body or flesh into subjection so that believers will be able to live to please God, we have to study, God’s word in a certain state of mind which fasting and prayer appropriately provides.
Our minds are the battle grounds for decisions that either please God or the Devil. In order to please God so his blessings can be released upon our lives, we must continuously engage our minds with thoughts that is in line with God’s word.
Philippians 4:8 says that “Finally Brethren whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things”. May God help us to live to please him by meditating on things that please the Lord, so we shall be blessed in all aspects of our lives. God bless.
NB: ‘CHANGE KOTOKA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TO KOFI BAAKO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT’
By Laud Kissi-Mensah
