Pest and Vector Control Association of Ghana (PEVAG) has taken its free disinfection programme to the Keta Municipal Health Hospital in the Volta Region.
In addition, the Association also fumigated the hospital against bed bugs, following an urgent appeal from the hospital authorities to PEVAG.
The second phase of PEVAG’s nationwide disinfection exercise which kick-started at the Tema General Hospital in the Greater Accra Region is targeted at making public hospitals safe for health workers and the general public who largely patronise these facilities.
The exercise is aimed at also complementing the government’s efforts to prevent a fourth wave of Covid in the wake of the Omicron variant. It formed part of PEVAG’s corporate social responsibility (CSR).
“As an Association, we take this exercise very serious because its one of our corporate social responsibilities to mother Ghana,” the Executive Secretary of PEVAG, Mr Francis Albright Yeji, said.
He indicated that PEVAG was undertaking the exercise to help public health facilities across the country fight Covid and other infectious diseases.
“We are supporting public health facilities in the fight against Covid-19 which has become a major problem in Ghana and the world in at large, and other infectious diseases. We’re having a new variant called, Omicron, that is fast spreading,” he said.
According to him, it was also to ward off any Covid tendencies, especially when the Yuletide was fast approaching.
Mr Albright Yeji explained that the Keta Municipal Health Hospital exercise also involved fumigation of bed bugs which was constantly becoming a headache for the hospital.
“Our focus today at Keta Municipal Health Hospital is the fight against bed bugs.”
…This is because we received an urgent appeal, more or less, an SOS appeal from the hospital authorities concerning the invasion of bed bugs that has spread across every part of the hospital. And as we were undertaking the exercise, we saw that every ward, chairs, tables outside the wards of the hospital had all been infested with bed bugs,” he bemoaned.
Explaining how to fight bed bugs, Mr Albright Yeji said, “we actually have to use a very high-quality chemical that has been approved by EPA which is very effective in terms of fighting insects but it is more human friendly–that is why we used that particular chemical,” adding that this needs to be routine, ideally every quarter, not just Keta Municipal Health Hospital but every facility.”
“We need to be doing this, and as an association, we will keep supporting the hospital in whatever way we can to ensure that we get this done in every three (3) months and to make sure that the hospital gets rid of bed bugs,” he assured.
In this regard, he underscored the need for residents in Keta and for that matter Ghanaians as whole to also take precautions and treat their belongings very well.
“We need the cooperation of the general public, the hospital administration alone, cannot fight this bed bugs infestation. And just as I said, we just finished. Now the hospital is rid of bed bugs, but from tomorrow, people will come with bed bugs, so we are appealing to the general public that they should make sure they are clean from bed bugs when coming to the hospital,” he appealed.
The Medical Superintendent of Keta Municipal Health Hospital, Dr Antoinette Ekuban, expressed the hospital’s gratitude to PEVAG.
“We’re happy because they embarked on this exercise using a high-quality chemical to get rid of the bed bugs from Keta Hospital. And on behalf of my management team, we say a very big thank you and we’re hoping that such exercise can be done in every quarter to completely rid the hospital of bed bugs,” he pleaded.
“We’re also going to embark on community education to make sure they keep themselves and things safe from bed bugs,” he assured.
Dr Ekuban challenged the community to take precautionary measures to help fight the coronavirus pandemic.
“It’s important for everyone to take the vaccine in order to protect us from the Covid-19 pandemic.”
The vaccine, he stressed, was effective, urging Keta residents not to underestimate it.