COVID 19: Two companies support health ministry with logistics

Two companies have presented logistics to the Ministry of Health (MoH) to support the fight against the Covid-19 outbreak in the country.

Tobinco Pharmaceutical Company Limited donated items estimated at GH¢250,000, including personal protective equipment (PPE), hand sanitisers, nose masks, disposable gloves, Veronica buckets, immune boosters and vitamins.

Ghandour Cosmetics Limited also presented 120 boxes of hand sanitiser to be distributed among the various health facilities in the country.

Supporting the government

The Chief Executive Officer of Tobinco Pharmaceutical Company, Mr Samuel Amo Tobin, who presented his company’s items, said the gesture was part of the company’s corporate social responsibility to help support the government, particularly at a time the items were much needed.

He said the company would extend the gesture to rural communities to support them with some basic materials to help avoid the spread of the disease.

“This is something we usually do, except that this time round Ghana is in dire need of our help and we have to come on board to support the government in the fight.

“We will also provide similar support to a number of rural communities. We are teaming up with the government until this is all over,” Mr Tobin said.

He urged other corporate entities to help the government tackle the pandemic, adding: “If we support the government, we are supporting the nation, which includes our customers who have helped us to thrive in the business fraternity.”

He advised individuals to stick to the preventive protocols given by health professionals and the World Health Organisation (WHO) to help reduce the spread of the pandemic in the country.

Mr Tobin said it was time individuals took a keen interest in the food they ate to boost their immune system, adding that drinking more water and eating food which contained Vitamin C was the surest was to fight the virus.

National crisis

The Head of Corporate Social Responsibility at Ghandour Cosmetics, Ms Miriam Uduack Mensah, said Ghana was in crisis, and that it was time support came from companies and other corporate entities, adding that the government should not be left alone in the fight against the pandemic.

“The country has not seen such crisis before and we know there is a lot of pressure on the government. We all need to come together and provide enough support to lessen the burden this crisis brings on the government and the nation,” she said.

She commended the government for the enhanced measures put in place to ensure that the spread of the virus was controlled as much as possible.

“We also commend the government for the measures it has already put in place, especially the decision to quarantine people who trooped into the country right after the close down. We have seen the result out there and we are very much aware that, as a country, we have prepared adequately,” Ms Mensah said.

Controlling outbreak

Receiving the items on behalf of the MoH, the sector Minister, Mr Kwaku Agyemang-Manu, commended both companies for such a thoughtful move.

He also expressed his profound gratitude to corporate entities in the country for their support which would help in the fight to control the outbreak.

“This situation is something we all didn’t prepare for and support from people like you is what can help the government put out good measures to control the outbreak,” he said.

“This type of crisis has never happened. I’ve read about the influenza after World War II, and since then the world hasn’t seen anything like this. We have gone through the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, SARS, Ebola and the rest, but none of those looks like what we are experiencing now,” he said.