The Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has inaugurated the US$7.5-million Infectious Diseases Centre, financed by the Ghana COVID-19 Private Sector Fund at the Ga East Municipal Hospital.
The project has a Level 2.5 biomedical laboratory, a triage unit, waiting areas, a nurses’ station, VIP and general wards, a 21-bed Intensive Care Unit (ICU), as well as a pharmacy. It is also equipped with a recovery courtyard, a dispensary, a medical gas house and an 800KVA generator station.
Speaking during the inauguration and handing over ceremony, Dr. Bawumia said,
“Today is a celebration of Ghanaian ingenuity and patriotism and a dedication to humanity by a team of 536 men and women, working 24 hours a day to make the seemingly impossible a reality. We are here because of you and Ghana must know you,” adding that, “It is rare to find a group of civilian professionals work in close quarters and on strict timelines, working 24 hours, non-stop with members of the Ghana Armed Forces in their unbending discipline and demand for precision in a flat chain of command.”
“The public health crisis mobilized a patriotic consensus on the collective need to contain and treat infectious diseases. The President’s rallying national cohesion ignited patriotism. And the private sector response is what today’s event represents, demonstrating once again that once we put our minds to it, we will soon discover that we are our own builders and beneficiaries of the Ghana we want,” he stated.
He commended dedicated men and women of the Ghana Medical Association and COVID-19 Case Management Experts for their guidance in making sure the facility is fit for its specialised purpose, as well as private donors, whom he described as “catalysts to this whole project.”
The Co-Chair of the Board of Trustees of the COVID-19 Private Sector Fund and Fidelity Bank’s Chairman, Mr. Edward Effah, said; “the mission of the COVID-19 Private Sector Fund was to provide a prompt response to the hardship and suffering arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mr. Effah reported that the COVID-19 Private Sector Fund embarked on five major projects: the Feed the Kayayo Project which served 150,000 meals to head potters and underprivileged citizens in Accra & Kumasi for 12 days during the lockdown. This was followed by the Protect and Resource the Frontline Project which provided 452,000 units of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) to hospitals across the country and 10,000 test kits to the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR).
Mr. Tony Oteng Gyasi, Co-Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Fund and Chairman of Tropical Cables and Conductors Limited, advised that the facility be well maintained to benefit the nation for several years.
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