A Deputy Minister of Health (MoH), Dr Bernard Oko-Boye has stated that the country’s success in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic is no fluke.
According to him, the achievements thus far, were as a result of effective and appropriate measures put in place by the government to safeguard the citizenry.
“The achievement of Ghana is not just by an accident but about the effective measures that the government has put in place in aggressively tracing, testing and treating people with the virus,” DrOko-Boye stated.
He said this at a presentation ceremony of COVID-19 Medical Supplies from Embassy of China to the Ministry of Health through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration (MFARI) in Accra on Friday.
The items worth $400,000 included ventilators, KN95 face and surgical nose masks, goggles, surgical gloves, isolation gowns, medical shoe covers, gun thermometres, disinfectants and wipes.
Dr Oko-Boye explained that since the outbreak, efforts at getting medical supplies for frontline staff had solely been on the government and expressed happiness for the embassy’s support to MoH.
He noted that the items would be distributed to the underserved health centres to stockpile the place to enhance their job.
DrOko-Boye maintained that all the necessary measures had been put in place to control the spread of the virus in the country, stressing that government has established COVID-19 structures at the national, regional and district level.
Presenting the items, the Deputy Ambassador of Beijing Mission, Dr Charles Dwamena explained that the items came from Chinese companies that do business in Ghana, with majority of the supplies from the Tianyun Manganese, the parent company of Ghana Manganese Company (GMC) to supplement government’s effort in the fight against COVID 19.
He said his outfit valued the priceless role of the frontliners in battling the rapidly evolving virus, thus the supply.
Dr Dwamena stated that the time had come for institutions to collectively work with the government in helping defeat the virus to bring back the country to normal.
Mr Charles Owiredu, the Deputy MFARI who received the items, commended the embassy for their support.
He stated that since the outbreak, his outfit had been at the forefront of coordinating international support for Ghana’s fight against the pandemic and expressed happiness for the timely supply.
“Though the government continues to demonstrate its unwavering commitment in the fight against the pandemic, we all have a collective responsibility to ensure full control or total eradication of the virus,” Mr Owiredu added.
He urged the citizenry to adhere strongly to the protocols of enhanced hygiene, social distancing and wearing of face masks to sustain them from the virus.
BY JOYCELINE NATALLY CUDJOE
