Former President John Mahama has present personal protective equipment worth GHS300,000 to the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital and the Tamale Teaching Hospital with GHS90,000 more worth of PPE being procured for other health posts to help frontline health workers help fight the spread of COVID-19 in the country with 

Prior to Saturday’s donation, Mr Mahama, last Sunday, donated one hundred PPE and other items to the Greater Accra Regional Hospital for the same purpose.

So far Ghana has recorded two hundred and four cases with five deaths and three full recoveries.

Speaking at a brief presentation ceremony at his office to hand over the items to the National Democratic Congress’ COVID-19 Response Team for onward distribution to the beneficiaries, the flag bearer of the biggest opposition party said: “It isn’t a good thing that health workers across the country still do not have personal protective equipment”, explaining: “This is obviously because we did not plan early as a country and our importation of these items and test kits was also late”.

“Also”, Mr Mahama noted, “I must add that the demand for test kits and personal protective equipment, have outstripped supply globally”.

He said: “It is within that spirit that despite this shortage, we have managed to secure and procure a quantity of PPE, which you see behind me here [his office] for distribution to a number of health facilities”.

“Last Sunday”, he pointed out, “In response to the cries of health workers at the Greater Accra Regional Hospital, popularly called the Ridge Hospital, I presented a hundred PPE, together with other items: sanitisers, face masks, gloves, gumboots and drinking water to them.

“It was our modest contribution to ensure that the health workers have the needed confidence to continue their sacrifice to safeguard the rest of us who are not victims to the virus and also to protect themselves.

“This morning, I have the pleasure of handing over a total of five hundred PPE, together with five hundred gumboots; they contain sanitisers, face masks, gloves, headcovers and several other critical items needed by our health workers.

“The total value of these items is GHS300,000. I’m pleased to present this to our COVID team for onward presentation to a number of health facilities including the Tamale Teaching Hospital, Korle Bu Teaching Hospital and other regional and district hospitals”, Mr Mahama said.

The former President said: “In view of the situation in Korle Bu, in particular, and the threats from the health workers, in defence 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 PPE, at a cost of 90,000 Ghana cedis, to reach out to other facilities in the regions. That puts the total number of PPE 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 service of our health personnel”.

On Friday, Mr Mahama urged the Akufo-Addo government to urgently take action to provide all the needed logistics such as PPE, to all the health posts that need them in order to boost the confidence of the frontline health workers in helping the nation to deal with the coronavirus outbreak.

In a Facebook write-up, Mr Mahama said: “While we observe the period of lockdown, it is incumbent on the government to also take urgent action to resolve some of the obvious shortcomings in our response to the pandemic”.

He said: “The unpleasant news of an imminent strike by health workers at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital because of the poor response to COVID-19 is most disturbing.

“The situation in Korle Bu is not an isolated case. Complaints of lack of PPE and isolation facilities are coming from many health facilities across the country and it is important that steps are taken to identify areas of urgent need and supply the resources and logistics needed to build the confidence of our frontline health workers to battle this disease”, the flag bearer of the National Democratic Congress said.

Mr Mahama is in good company with the Minority in Parliament, which has asked the government of Ghana to listen to the cry of the frontline health workers in order to prevent any strike from them.

Doctors at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital threatened to lay down their tools due to inadequate materials and logistics to deal with cases of the coronavirus outbreak in Ghana.

In a memo to their Head of Department, the doctors decried the usage of a side ward as an isolation centre without the necessary Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).

“We write to express our general dissatisfaction with the preparedness or lack thereof of the department to combat the current COVID-19 pandemic. We also wish to express our displeasure with the events surrounding the hospital’s first confirmed case.

“Firstly, the pandemic; an existential threat to us, you will agree has to be handled with decisiveness and transparency. It is based on this that, we are against the actions or inactions taken before, during and after the case had been confirmed,” parts of the memo read.

Reacting to this in an interview with Accra 100.5FM’s parliamentary correspondent Richard Appiah Sarpong on Friday, April 3, the Minority spokesman on Health and MP for Juaboso, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, asked the government to immediately supply what the doctors need to enable them work effectively.

“We were shocked to hear yesterday that some medical doctors at Korle Bu are threatening stroke actions.

“I believe that at this point in time in this crisis, the least that we want to hear as Ghanaians is that any health professional is threatening strike action.

“We have taken time to read through some of their concerns and we think they have legitimate concerns that we think the government, as a matter of urgency, must respond to because apart from God, they are our saviors now.

“Some of the issues they raise were about inadequate PPE in the system.”