Ghanaian government allocates $400k for fight against coronavirus

The coronavirus has been declared a global health emergency by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Speaking in Parliament on Tuesday, the Health Minister, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu said the government is doing all in its power to prepare incase a case of coronavirus is recorded in Ghana.

“The government of Ghana has allocated an amount of GHC2.5 million ($456,204.38) as start up funds towards the implementation of the initial response for our national preparedness plan. The Ministry of Health (MoH) has initiated plans to procure 10,000 pieces of personal protection equipment for the use of all our frontline workers.”

He added that the Ministry has intensified media campaigns to educate Ghanaians on preventive measures.

“Media engagements have started and are ongoing. We are using multiple channels such as Whatsapp, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for information dissemination. We continue to conduct monitoring and provide responses through health promotion surveillance and intelligence… I wish to indicate that the government of Ghana is doing everything possible to prevent and protect against the outbreak and the spread of the infection in Ghana.”

He further indicated that the government is making efforts to purchase 10,000 pieces of personal protective equipment for frontline health workers as well as plans to “procure insurance cover for all frontline health workers who may be engaged to do this work for us.”

The coronavirus which was first recorded in China has killed at least 427 people and infected more than 20,000 globally. It has been spreading to other countries, however, no African state has recorded a case of coronavirus yet.

There has been calls for the government to evacuate Ghanaians in China, where the coronavirus started.

The Ghanaian government through its Embassy in China, has given out 50,000 RMB (estimated to be around GHC 39,500.05), to the China Chapter of the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS-China) to help the affected students especially those in the virus-stricken city of Wuhan in Hubei province to buy food and medical supplies.

The Health Ministry has further selected the Tema General and Ridge hospitals as response centers for the virus. The Noguchi Memorial Institute of Medical Research has been chosen as the laboratory to test for reported cases of the virus.