Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Patrick Aboagye, has said that per a survey conducted by the government, most Ghanaian students in the epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak, Wuhan (China) were still against being evacuated to Ghana.

He said this was part of the reasons why the government did not to evacuate the students, in spite of the growing public backlash.

Speaking to Bernard Avle on Citi TV’s Point of View Monday evening, Dr Aboagye said “a significant number didn’t want to come home. We did a survey, those who wanted to come home were few.”

“We are talking about 162 students in Wuhan and the Ambassador [to China] was in touch with them every other day. We had information about the situation they were in and the number of those who really wanted to come back home.

"We also assessed whether the systems and protection that they were getting there [in China] was adequate, if it was inadequate, we would have brought them,” he further noted.

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Dr. Aboagye asserted that, the students were relatively better off in China than they will be Ghana considering healthcare systems and the level of experience between the two countries in dealing with coronavirus.

“It is not the best practice as far as public health is concerned and WHO has even advised against such evacuations…Our position was that, because they were getting good care and support, we felt that there was no point in bringing them but we continue to watch the situation and as you can see the numbers are coming down in China,” he said.

“Even if you get the disease, you are probably better off in China because they have experience managing that kind of condition.”

Some political actors, concerned parents, and a section of the Ghanaian public have continually called for the evacuation of Ghanaian citizens, students especially, from areas affected with coronavirus, particularly Wuhan (China).
The government however announced in February that it was not ready to evacuate the students.