Minority members of the Health Committee in Parliament have accused government of failing to effectively manage the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
According to the members, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and his technical team of advisors have not demonstrated enough competence in handling the pandemic contrary to claims being trumpeted by the administration.
They lamented that 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 Ranking member, Kwabena Minta Akandoh, the Minority said the manner in which 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.
Disappointed workers, he said, have chosen not to join Covid teams due to failure of the government to fulfil its promises while health facilities are also collapsing under heavy financial constraints due to lack of adequate subventions to procure goods and services.
He saidk, “We hear of no PPEs, no oxygen for patients desperately in need of oxygen, 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 is 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.”
The Ranking expressed worry of a vacuum on how to address the current situation because the government has not put adequate resources into public education on the disease, leaving media houses to use their own resources to educate the public as a corporate social responsibility.
The Minority recommended some measures to the government that, it stressed, should be implemented to stem the tide of failures in the management of the disease in Ghana.
They urged government to dissolve the Technical Advisory Team formed in 2020 and recompose it with 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 carry out effective public education.
The Minority also entreated Ghanaians and foreign nationals to strictly comply with the COVID-19 safety protocols to prevent further spread of the infection.
Source: Mypublisher24.com