Claims of babies born without nose, ears, mouth due to galamsey at Aowin false – GHS

Ghana Health Service (GHS) has shot down claims that there is an increasing trend of babies born with deformities in the Sewum Health Center in the Aowin District of the Western North Region.

The Ghana Health Service in a statement said available data shows that there has not been any case of birth defect at the Sewum Health Center in 2021.

According to the service, three cases were instead recorded in different facilities in the municipality in the year 2020.

“The Regional Health Directorate has on record of two (2) cases of birth anomalies reported from Aowin municipality in 2021, and none from Sewum Health Centre,” the Ghana Health Service said in a statement.

Several news reports earlier this week said medical staff at the Sewum Health Center in the Aowin District say they are recording many cases of newborn babies being born without nose, ears, mouth due to activities of illegal mining popularly known as galamsey.

The reports say pregnant women in the community are continuously losing their newborn babies because the women drink water contaminated with chemicals used by the illegal miners.

But according to the Ghana Health Service, the reports are false.

“In 2020, there was no case of birth defect at Sewum Health Center but a total of three (3) case of birth anomalies were reported in the entire Aowin Municipality.”

“From the above, and data available to us at the Western North Region, there is no increasing trend in both anomalies at Sewum Health Center, Aowin Municipality or at Western North region,” the Ghana Health Service said in its statement.

---citinewsroom