Member of Parliament for Ningo-Prampram, Sam George, has chastised Ghanaian youth for engaging in activities that could lead to health implications in the long run.
Speaking during a live studio discussion on Joy News about the closure of the Renal Unit Out Patients’ Department and the upsurge of kidney-related cases in Ghana, Sam George argued that many youth engage in the smoking of shisha which could be responsible for the rise in kidney related cases in young individuals.
He acknowledged that there are individuals who develop kidney related cases through no fault of theirs but blamed the rise in such ailments among young people on their lifestyle choices.
“A majority of the young people [are] reporting with these things. It's just horrible, irresponsible life choices. They are smoking like locomotive engines. They've dumped cigarettes and have jumped on that killer called shisha, and it is killing.
“You drive around Accra, around East Lagon, and you see young people putting off steam like locomotive engines all in the name of fashion,” he claimed.
He also cited the abundance of alcoholic beverages, junk food and aphrodisiacs in the country as factors in the rise of kidney-related cases among young ones, citing it as a “pandemic”.
“We're a country with just 33 million people. Yet, we have over almost 100 different types of bitters. All kinds of concoctions in the name of aphrodisiacs. I mean, it's like we're a sex-crazy generation that needs to do anything and everything just to prove a point.
“We're drinking the wrong things, eating the wrong things, and smoking our lungs into oblivion. I mean, we need to check our life choices as a country. It's a problem. It's a pandemic,” he said.