Mahama donates PPE worth GH¢390,000 to Korle Bu and Tamale Teaching Hospital

This is to help health workers help fight the spread of COVID-19 in the country.

The COVID-19 pandemic and its outbreak in Ghana have brought out the very best in all of us and it has been heartwarming to see political, religious and social differences have evaporated and replaced by a sense of unity and camaraderie in a bid to beat back this disease.

Speaking at a brief presentation ceremony, Mahama said he intends adding on some more in the coming days because of the threat from the Accident and Emergency ward nurses at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.

He said "In view of the situation in Korle Bu, in particular, and the threats from the health workers, in defense of their own protection, I have had to make some adjustments in the distribution formula, and we are currently looking around to secure an additional 150 PPEs, at a cost of 90,000 Ghana Cedis, to reach out to other facilities in the regions. That puts the total number of PPEs we will be handing over to 650 sets at a cost of 390,000 Ghana cedis.

"I make this modest contribution to the fight to rid our beloved country of this most insidious ailment. It is my hope that it goes some way to alleviate the plight of our brave frontline health workers. In the very near future, under a new NDC administration, we will consider an insurance package woven into the conditions of the service of our health personnel.

"It is with great humility that I note that the massive investments we made in health facilities during my tenure as President have become the mainstay of the response to the novel virus. This marks progress and demonstrates what vision and foresight can do in nation-building.

"That notwithstanding, it has become clear, in an era of pandemics and infectious diseases, that a reactionary approach does not offer a sustainable path to protecting our people and economy from the harmful effects of such outbreaks.

"A more proactive state of readiness must be put be in place going forward. No longer must it be the case that dangerous diseases like Ebola, SARS, MERS or COVID-19 get to our shores before we scramble around to arrest their impact.

"These diseases have unfortunately become serious threats to our survival and go beyond just the health of our people. They have adverse implications for our economy and our very way of life. In that regard, I wish to table the following proposals, which I believe will leave us better prepared and ready to take on any future eventuality especially pandemics like the COVID-19 case.

"These proposals are a part of our manifesto, which we intend to launch later in the year when we have collectively defeated this pandemic. It has become necessary now to make them public because of the current climate and in the hope that to the extent possible, they may be factored into ongoing efforts to combat COVID-19.

If there is any lesson to be drawn from the COVID -19 episode, it is the fact that we are not immune from pandemics that hitherto were deemed to be far removed from us. While we may have been spared outbreaks like Ebola, SARS, MERS and the like, we have been very much affected by COVID-19, which has proven extremely disruptive to our lives and holds the potential of having dire consequences for our economy.

"The relative fragility of our health and social welfare systems makes us even more vulnerable to its fallouts. Our people stand to suffer tremendously if such diseases are allowed to take us by surprise. Even as we count the cost, it is imperative that we learn the lessons of today and acts now to ensure that we are much better prepared, when, not if, the next pandemic rears its head.

"To this end, I propose the immediate development of a National Infectious Disease Response Plan that clearly sets out the specific steps to be taken to prevent the entry of such diseases, quickly arrest them even if they do enter our shores at a very early stage and reduce their impact to the barest minimum.

"We must establish another medical research centre with capacity like the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research in the Northern part of Ghana. We must expand the 37 military hospitals, doubling the current bed size, and also build an Infectious Diseases Centre there to cater to the Southern sector to help with the management of cases like Ebola and COVID-19. A second and fully-equipped National Infectious Diseases Centre should be built in the middle and Northern Sectors of the country."