Environmental Health Officers Suspend Burial Of Deceased Covid-19 Patients

The Environmental Health Officers Alliance – Ghana, has suspended its involvement in the burial of COVID-19 patients who died.

The alliance, which is made up of all environmental health officers in all 260 Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies in the country, has been complaining about inadequate critical logistics.

Yaw Lartey, the alliance’s president, has in the past noted a lack of computers for data collection, a lack of vehicles, and limited personal protection equipment as some of their major challenges.

In announcing the strike in an interview with Obouba Ofori Amanfo on Ahenkan “Maakye” morning show, Mr. Lartey urged needy officers nationwide to comply with the alliance’s action.

“All those who are burying and have not got the needed logistics to do the burial, kindly lay down your tools because the new variant is so deadly, and we don’t want things to get out of hand,” he said.

He further urged all the officers to remain calm “as executives engage government on the needed modus operandi in the discharge of our duties on this highly infectious virus in our country, Ghana.”

In addition, he said environmental health officers do not benefit from insurance packages for frontline workers amidst the pandemic.

“The insurance that the government of Ghana through the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health service promised, none was given to the environmental health officers who had these infections.”

Mr. Lartey warned that the association would not tolerate any victimisation because of the strike.

“[We] want to caution all Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives and any other person in the MMDAs who will try to victimise any of our members on all COVID-19 burials contrary to Article 191 of the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana, that they will have the full force of the Association descending on them without any fear or favour.”