Gov’t has lost the fight on COVID-19 – Akandoh

Ranking Member of the Health Committee in Parliament, Hon. Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, has stated that the government has lost the fight on the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and his technical team of advisors, he said, have not demonstrated enough competence in handling the pandemic.

According to him, the rate of infections is increasing since the second wave hit the country and yet technical guidelines on prevention and management are not being enforced while contract tracing has been abandoned altogether.

At a press briefing addressed by the Minority members on the Health Committee, the Ranking indicated that the manner in which the government also managed donations from Corporate and other benevolent individuals, and the glaring lack of support to health facilities has caused many donors to withdraw support for the fight against the virus.

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Disappointed workers, he said, have chosen not to join Covid teams due to the failure of the government to fulfill its promises while health facilities are also collapsing under heavy financial constraints due to lack of adequate subventions to procure goods and services.

He said, “We hear of no PPEs, no oxygen for patients desperately in need of oxygen, a case testing longer routine and no free walk-in tests, etc.”

“Evidence on the ground now point to increased cross infections among COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients and caregivers due to overcrowding at health facilities, while long delays in the delivery of test results are also putting patients and caregivers at risk of infection.”

“To make matters worse, schools have reopened without taking full deliveries of PPEs and there has been little or no engagement with parents, teachers, and other stakeholders on how to manage the schools leading to outbreaks of infections in some senior high schools across the country.”

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Mr. Akandoh stated that there is a vacuum on how to address the current situation because the government has not put adequate resources into public education on the disease.

He recommended some measures to the government to be implemented to stem the tide of failures in the management of the disease in Ghana.

He urged the government to dissolve the Technical Advisory Team formed in 2020 and recompose it with a multidisciplinary and non-partisan, competent enough team to direct management of the infection.

The government, Mr. Akandoh said, should also expand more management facilities and build capacity to handle the many severe cases that are likely to be confirmed.

Schools, he said, should be adequately resourced and supported to make the environment safe from COVID and the media to enable it to carry out effective public education.

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FrontPageGhana.com