The Chief Executive Officer (CEO)of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Dr Opoku Ware Ampomah, has urged the government to intensify the fight against illegal mining popularly known as galamsey.
According to him, some toxic chemicals used in the process affect the organs of the human system through drinking water and the food they consume.
Speaking to Citi News, Dr Ampomah said the appropriate authorities must fight the menace to avert the health and environmental risk it poses.
“This galamasey and other things that are polluting our water bodies is a time bomb that we also have to think about. All these heavy metals, these chemicals that they are using for some of these extractions when they get into the water bodies, the fish injects them and our body does not have the capability to eliminate some of these chemicals from our body. ”
“So once you eat them into your body either through the contaminated fish or through the water or through the plants when it gets into the soil, your body cannot eliminate them. They accumulate in your body and some of them cause damage to the porous organs,” he stated.