President optimistic about robust health system after COVID-19

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has expressed the hope that apart from defeating the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the country will have a robust public health system fit to serve its 21st century health needs.

He said at the end of the process, the collective experiences and lessons drawn would help build a stronger public health system to serve as a really positive legacy of the pandemic.

President Akufo-Addo stated this when he interacted with the leadership of groups under the health services in the country and also commended them for the work they had done so far at the Jubilee House in Accra yesterday.

The groups are the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association, the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana (PSGH), the Allied Health Professionals, Ghana Association of Certified Registered Anesthetics and the Ghana Physicians Assistants Association.

President

“I feel strongly that if we work in transparency and openness, we will arrive at that situation and that can only be to the good of all of us,” he said and commended the health workers for the yeoman’s job they had done so far.

Good work

President Akufo-Addo said as the leading persons at the heart of the public health system they had done well, an indication that the country was in the lead as far as the handling of the pandemic in Africa was concerned, adding that if that was true then a lot of the credit should go to them.

He noted that his government took the bold decision to offer the incentives to health workers in the fight against the pandemic because if they were not fully motivated, it would be difficult for the society to deal with the pandemic.

The President said the situation had also revealed the deficiencies in the society in that after six decades of independence, Ghana had not built an economy that would make it easy to adjust and respond easily to such crisis.

President Akufo-Addo said the government was aware that it had to deal with the reality of the many shortfalls in the system, including inadequate equipment and unedifying salaries, but those notwithstanding, “we are required to give of our best, particularly those in the public service, especially when the lives of the people are on the line.”

He said he recognised that the government had the responsibility to provide them with the best possible tools for them to do their work, be they protective equipment or access to medicines.

President Akufo-Addo noted that the presentations by the various groups were also an indication of the recognition that they were frontline workers and asked the groups to liaise with the government to define the various categories that would be covered under the various incentives.

President Akufo-Addo also welcomed the suggestion for the establishment of a diseases control centre in the country.

Ghana Beyond Aid

The President said the pandemic had revealed the need for the country to build its capacity to produce its needs locally and said the government was responding to that by asking local producers in Ghana to produce some of the protective gear, medicines, among other items.

“We should all ensure that we build our capacity because the health challenges of COVID-19 has exposed us, especially when the people we are importing the things from are also in dire need of them,” he added.

Pharmaceutical

The President of PSGH, Dr Benjamin Kwame Botwe, commended the government for the bold decisions it had taken, including the incentives for health staff, businesses and the regular presidential updates on the fight against the pandemic.

He said there were high numbers of sanitisers at the various manufacturing points and gave an assurance that the local manufacturers were ready to produce some of the medicines locally.