A seasoned Cardiologist and Medical Superintendent at the Takoradi Government Hospital, Dr George Peprah, is sounding an alarm on a haunting surge in undiagnosable diseases in some of the health institutions.
He suspects the confusing cases to be linked to heavy-metal poisoning — a toxic by-product of the nation's devastating illegal mining, or galamsey, operations, one which had recently claimed the life of a lactating mother.
Dr Peprah, a man of decades of clinical experience, speaks with desperation, relating a recent case that went against all medical expertise.
A fortnight ago, a young lady came to the center in a pitiful state of illness. She had just given birth and was lactating. Despite all we could do, we could not determine what was amiss with her. So, we took her to Cape Coast.".
When I questioned them later regarding her health, they informed me that she died the next day. The physicians there also conducted a series of tests, but were unable to reach any conclusion. So we are beginning to die like animals, and physicians can't even find out why. I have worked for many years, and I was absolutely lost," he deplored.
His frustration is joined by recent scientific evidence. New York-based Pure Earth and the US Environmental Protection Agency EPA conducted a one-year survey that found startling levels of mercury, arsenic, and other heavy metals in soil, rivers, fish, and even vegetables in the affected areas of mining.
In a number of the hotspots, mercury in soil averaged 56 parts per million, with the top reading more than 20 times above what the world considers to be safe. Arsenic was even more stunningly high, up to 10,000 ppm in particular samples. These figures aren't abstract numbers; they mean a food chain being quietly seeded with poisons, and a healthcare system having to cope with diseases it has not yet learned to name.
Addressing the report in an interview on September 26, Dr Peprah is convinced that toxic residues deposited by galamsey are now entering the human body directly and causing new pathologies that conventional medical science is not so readily able to identify.
A bold, concerted national effort is urgently needed, he asserts, to eliminate galamsey, which is now as much a public health emergency as an environmental one, before it gets out of hand.
"Non-communicable diseases like kidney disease are increasing. Some patients come with large hearts. If you question them whether they have BP, drink, smoke or are diabetic, they say no. So you ask them, what is killing the heart, because medically you cannot diagnose."
His remark touches on the alarming reality which the Pure Earth and EPA report identifies, that the poisoning discovered is not just in rivers and soil but also creeping into common meals.
"You cannot say, you can't drink or eat. Yesterday, my wife was washing kontomire to be cooked, and I happened to see it and I was worried, saying, now they say these heavy metals are in kontomire.". And what can you do, which you will not eat due to this? So even healthy labeled food items strongly recommended are those which have now become tainted. You cannot stop so many people from consuming tainted foods unknowingly. That is unsettling.
For social commentator Charles Mintaba, the challenge of governance is "more than ever" somber because enforcement crackdowns can put an end to the threat in the short term but cannot sanitize contaminated soils or sterilize rivers.
".if remediation isn't done continuously, toxic metals will be present in food chains even after galamsey operations are abandoned. Now that gold is at a good price, the economic pull of illicit mining will forever remain ahead of deterrence," he said in another interview with ConnectNews.
"If Pure Earth and the EPA's just-out report are any guide, it would signify that fighting galamsey must progress beyond the occasional raids to an all-of-the-above strategy that combines enforcement, tech solutions, remediation in the long term, and sustainable livelihoods.".
We ought to be seeing low and mighty people found guilty and getting severe punishments. Short of that, we are leaving a toxic legacy for future generations. Currently, the situation is not an inspiring one."