Medical Doctor Expresses Alarm Over Surge In Undiagnosable Conditions In Some Health Facilities

A seasoned Cardiologist and Medical Superintendent of the Takoradi Government Hospital, Dr George Peprah, is sounding a warning about a disturbing surge in undiagnosable medical conditions across health facilities.

He fears these baffling cases may be tied to heavy-metal contamination — a toxic fallout from the nation’s devastating illegal mining, or galamsey, operations, one that recently claimed the life of a lactating mother.

Dr. Peprah, a man with decades of clinical practice, speaks with palpable frustration, recounting a recent case that defied all his medical expertise.

“Two weeks ago, a young lady came to the facility very sick. She had given birth recently and was breastfeeding. Despite our best efforts, we were unable to diagnose the problem with her. So, we referred her to Cape Coast.

When I inquired later about her condition, I was told she died the next day. The doctors there had also conducted a series of tests, but were unable to come to any conclusion. So we are beginning to die like animals, and doctors can’t tell why. I have several years of experience, and I was totally lost,” he bemoaned.

His frustration is echoed by fresh scientific evidence. A year-long assessment by New York-based Pure Earth and the Environmental Protection Agency EPA found alarmingly high levels of mercury, arsenic, and other toxic metals in soils, rivers, fish, and even vegetables in mining-affected zones.

In some hotspots, mercury in soil averaged 56 parts per million, with peak readings more than 20 times higher than what international guidelines deem safe. Arsenic levels were even more staggering, reaching up to 10,000 ppm in certain samples. Such readings are not abstract statistics; they point to a food chain slowly being seeded with poisons, and a health system forced to confront diseases it cannot yet name.

Reacting to the report in an interview on September 26, Dr Peprah suspects that toxic residues from galamsey are now registering directly in the human body, creating novel pathologies that existing medical science cannot easily identify.

He asserts that a bold, coordinated national effort is urgently needed to root out galamsey, which is now as much a public health emergency as an environmental one, before it escalates beyond containment.

“Non-communicable diseases like kidney diseases are on the increase. Some patients come with enlarged hearts. When you ask them whether they have BP, drink, smoke or are diabetic, they will say no. So you ask, what is destroying the heart, because medically you cannot tell.”

His words speak to the unsettling reality that the Pure Earth and EPA report underscores, that the discovered contamination is not confined to rivers and soils but is infiltrating daily diets.

“You cannot say, you can’t drink or eat. Yesterday, my wife was cooking with kontomire, and when I saw it, I got alarmed, saying, now they say these heavy metals are in kontomire. Unfortunately, what can you do, that you will not eat because of what has been said? So even food items described as healthy and highly recommended are the ones that have now been found to be contaminated. You cannot stop many people from unconsciously taking in contaminated food. That is unsettling.”

For Charles Mintaba, a social commentator, the governance challenge is “more than ever” sobering as enforcement crackdowns may halt the menace temporarily but cannot clean poisoned soils or decontaminate rivers.

“…without sustained remediation, toxic metals will remain in food systems long after galamsey sites are abandoned. Now, with gold prices high, the economic lure of illegal mining will continue to outpace deterrence,” he told ConnectNews in a separate interview.

“If the Pure Earth and EPA’s recent report is anything to go by, it means that the fight against galamsey must shift from the seasonal raids to a more comprehensive strategy which combines enforcement, technological alternatives, long-term remediation, and sustainable livelihoods.

We need to see people, both low and mighty, found culpable, being handed down heavy sentences. Anything other than that, we risk bequeathing a toxic inheritance to future generations.  Currently, the picture is not a good one.”

Source: Citinews