Disaster Management Put To Test- At Ohene Djan (back page)

Story: Lucy Adoma Yeboah (January 16, 2008)
THE Accra Venue Subcommittee for Ghana 2008 yesterday organised a simulation exercise in preparation for any eventuality during the tournament at the Ohene Djan Stadium.
Made up of security and health personnel together with volunteers from the Saint John Ambulance and the Red Cross Society of Ghana, the group put into practice how they could prevent and manage disaster should any occur at the stadium.
There are plans for similar exercises to take place in the three other stadia designated for the tournament.
Present were the Minister of Health, Major Courage Quashigah (retd), a large number of directors from the ministry and the Ghana Health Service (GHS), senior officers from the Ghana Armed Forces, the Ghana Police Service and the Ghana Fire Service, officials from the Red Society of Ghana and the Saint John Ambulance, journalists, volunteers and spectators mostly in Ghana 2008 T-shirts and caps.
A large number of plain-clothes police officers were spotted identifying areas where they would cover during matches.
A mock match between Ghana and Benin was staged which resulted in riot with a lot of casualties. Ghana scored two goals as against a lone goal by Benin. Major Quashigah took the ceremonial kick-off.
There was “jama” songs as the supporters tried hard to cheer players of the two teams just as it happens at football matches. The teams were made of both men and women mixed in each team.
Before the mock match, a group of young volunteers mobilised purposely to help during the event were briefed by Dr Ahmed Mohammed, the Director of the National Ambulance Service, and some senior nursing officers as to how to go about things.
For easy movement and effectiveness, both the security personnel mainly from the Ghana Police Service and the health personnel were divided into groups to cover the three sections of the stadium. A group was also assigned to the VIP stand.
The teams were briefed as to how to identify injuries and some cut-out cards in red, yellow, green and black, according to the degree of injuries one was suffering were also shown to the health personnel to be used in separating the injured for effective treatment.
The red was for the severely injured, yellow for the moderately injured, green for mild injuries and the black for the dead.
To enable the group to have a feel of what could happen and how to handle them, a stage-managed riot occurred. That was during the game between the two teams (Ghana and Benin) turned into a free-for-all fight on the playing field with players attacking each other.
With “borrowed supporters” watching from afar, they also began arguing among themselves, which later turned into a large-scale fight which brought about a number of casualties. Volunteers who feigned injured were seen with red paints on various parts of their bodies indicating where the injuries occurred.
As the police tried to stop the fight with some arrests, the health personnel and the various first aid groups rushed to the various spots to assist the injured.
Some injuries which health personnel anticipate occurring in case of such a large-scale fight at the stadium are broken limbs, facial fractures, wounds with profuse bleeding and bleeding from aborted pregnancy.
Others are ear bleeding, nose bleeding, high blood pressure with no medical record, general bodily pains, shortness of breath, facial burns, multiple facial injuries, difficulty in breathing and unconsciousness and semi-consciousness, among others.
There was also a mock fire outbreak where personnel of the Ghana Fire Service quickly moved into action with fire engines and chemicals to bring it under control.
The Commander of the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU), Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Mr Julius Avorgah, issued out instructions to both the spectators and the security personnel from the communication room at the stadium to put the situation under control.
As the exercise took place, it was observed that the security personnel were slow to respond.
Enquiries made by the Daily Graphic indicated that an alarm made to sound during such incidents failed to trigger when it was pressed because it had not been completely fixed.