Minutes after the president announced that retired health professionals have offered themselves to serve at this time of great need in the medical fraternity, Kobby Blay kicked against it. Kobby Blay is a renowned health blogger much respected for his health activism so his views of the recall of retired nurses and doctors came as no surprise.
“Over reliant on the retired nurses bit though, we know how vulnerable the ‘aged’ could be to this…” Blay wrote on his Facebook timeline.
A few minutes later, a motivational speaker and social commentator, Scofray Nana Yaw Yeboah, raised the same point Kobby raised earlier. Then Selorm Branttie, vice president of Imani, joined the duo is making the point about how vulnerable senior citizens are to COVID-19.
In Italy, 96% percent of deaths are of people over age 60; out of which 86% are over age 70. This means recalling retired nurses and doctors who by law are to retire after age 60, means the government will be recalling the folks most vulnerable to COVID-19 thereby increasing the risk of infections and death.
It will be necessary for the government to revise the decision on retired health professionals and concentrate on young nurses and doctors who have been agitating to be posted. This may be a toll on the public purse but it’s our only choice if we are to not risk the lives of senior citizens.
