Help with pic16F877

Hi guys,
I am not sure if it will be an issue or not, but I want to ask a question about portA.4
I have read the spec sheet, and PortA.4 is an open drain, which means current will always flow to the microchip.
what I am worry about is if the microchip is safe if I have a transistor (emitter side) connected to the pin, the Base (B) connected to the 5 Vdc and the collector (C) to 24Vdc.

Can PortA.4 be configured so that it becomes an output. so that it behaves just like the other PortA pins.

Why don't you pull this pin to Vdd with a resistor, say 10K or 4K7 ?

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Please can you explain to me what happens if we do that?
what do you mean by PULL? like I split the current going to PortA.4 with VDD.