Eleven Die At Kumasi Academy

Information reaching THE PUBLISHER indicates that the death toll at the Kumasi Academy Senior High School (KUMACA) has increased to eleven this year alone.

The figure, which stood at 10 as at last week, increased to 11 after a female General Arts student was also reported dead yesterday.

Like the previous reports, the eleventh person also complained of high temperature but was reported dead hours after she was rushed to the hospital.

Ms. Cassandra Twum Ampofo, Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Ghana Education Service (GES) for Ashanti Region, made the sad disclosure in a radio interview.

Past Deaths

Speaking on Nhyira FM, the Regional GES PRO said seven of the students died by the end of June 2017 after they all complained of suffered high temperature.

Then just as things seemed to have returned to normalcy, two other students reportedly died on Thursday last week. And as if that was not enough, the death of another first-year male student was reported on Friday evening, increasing the tally for the year to ten.

Eleventh Death

Ms Ampofo said the eleventh death occurred hours after a female student complained of high temperature on Monday.

She said the student was immediately rushed to the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KUNST) Hospital on Monday but she also passed in the early hours of Tuesday.

The PRO further disclosed that about 18 of the students in the same school are currently on admission at various hospitals in Kumasi due to high temperature.

She described the incidents as very unfortunate, noting that all stakeholders in the education sector are working around the clock to avert any further occurrences.

So far the exact causes of the deaths are not known.  This has sparked uneasiness among the student body, compelling authorities to temporarily close down the school for a few days.

By: Afua Sarpong Amankwa/ thePublisher