COVID-19 Fund realises GH¢44.9m

Donations into the COVID-19 National Trust Fund have reached GH¢44.9 million, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the fund, Justice Sophia Akuffo, has said.

She was speaking at the Jubilee House in Accra yesterday during the presentation by the fund of 10 Cobalt Chevrolet saloon cars and two pick-up vehicles to selected treatment centres, including national public health and reference laboratories, testing centres and the COVID-19 Management Centre.

The beneficiaries are the University of Ghana Medical Centre, the Kumasi South Hospital, the LEKMA Hospital, the Tema General Hospital, the Pentecost Convention Isolation Centre and the Zonal Public Health.

The rest are the University of Health and Allied Sciences COVID-19 Testing Centre, the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research, the National Public Health Reference Laboratory, the Tamale National Public Health Laboratory and the Central Care Management.

The vehicles were donated to the fund by Mac Autos and Spare Parts Ghana Limited, CFAO Ghana and Auto Parts Limited.

Purpose

Justice Akuffo said the beneficiary organisations would use the vehicles to undertake surveillance, testing, contact tracing, management of cases and related activities in affected areas.

She explained that the board arrived at the decision to present the vehicles to the beneficiary institutions after broad consultations and available data from the Ghana Health Service (GHS).

In addition, the selection took into account the density of the spread and the cluster of the COVID-19 in the affected areas in the country.

She commended the benefactors for their generosity and gave an assurance that all funds and items received would be distributed fairly and transparently.

She further appealed to automobile companies, individuals and corporate entities to donate more 4x4 cross-country vehicles, including ambulances, to help combat and alleviate the impact of the pandemic.

Appreciation

Justice Akuffo expressed appreciation to all individuals, groups and corporate bodies which had donated into the fund’s accounts at the Bank of Ghana, the GCB Bank and the Consolidated Bank.

She also thanked all frontline workers, especially nurses, doctors, laboratory scientists, technicians and all other workers whose efforts had contributed to the management of the disease in the country, saying: “We thank them for their sacrifices and the daily risking of lives in the fight against this pandemic.”

Commitment

The Minister of State in charge of the State Interest and Governance Authority (SIGA), Dr Kwaku Afriyie, said although the fund was set up to augment the efforts of the government to contain and prevent the spread of the disease, the state would not shirk its responsibilities in the COVID-19 fight.

Background

The board was inaugurated by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on March 8, 2020 in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic to mobilise resources, both financial and material, from individuals and corporate entities and disburse them to alleviate the negative impact of the pandemic on Ghanaians.