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The National Communication Officer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Sammy Gyamfi has said that Ghana is currently battling with the spread of the Coronavirus disease in the country because the country is ill prepared to fight the disease.

According to the NDC chief communicator, the country does not have enough facilities and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to help with the fight, hence the spread.

And this, he said is not the best as that can demoralise the doctors and nurses who are at the forefront of the battle.


“When your health workers do not have the PPE needed to work with, you’ll be overwhelmed by the disease regardless of the freebies you give…,” he said.

Mahama’s Donations

The 2020 Flagbearer of the NDC, John Mahama has been donating PPE to several hospitals across the country as part of measures to deal with the disease.

President John Mahama donating PPE to Ridge Hospital
Most of the donations have been made on his behalf by the COVID-19 Response team of the NDC.

These donations, Sammy Gyamfi said came at the right time arguing that several hospitals wouldn’t have had access to PPE if the former President had not come to the aid of the country.

“If not for the PPEs donated by John Mahama, some hospitals wouldn’t have had any. Instead of commending and encouraging him to do more, some people are asking that we wait until the fight against coronavirus is over…,” he said further.

Ghana ill prepared

Sammy Gyamfi claimed that the country’s preparedness to fight the disease is woefully inadequate.

“Ghana currently have more ministers than the number of ventilators we have to deal with the disease…,” he said during an engagement on Adom TV .

Ghana currently has 110 Ministers with opposition elements claiming that the figure jumped to 123 following a reshuffle by the President in February 2023.

Answering a question on the number of ventilators in Ghana currently, Health Minister, Kwaku Agyemang Manu said:

“Ghana has 67 ventilators. An extra order of 50 has been made out of which 20 has arrived whilst we await the remaining 30. That together with what we have in the private gives us about 200 ventilators in Ghana,” he said.

Presidential adviser on health, Dr Nsiah Asare has also added that the 307 Ambulances that were procured by the government also have mobile ventilators in them to support the Coronavirus patients.

“All the 307 ambulances that were brought into Ghana have ventilators,” he said on Peace FM’s ‘kokrokoo’ program on Tuesday, March 31, 2020.

VENTILATORS AND ITS IMPORTANCE

A ventilator is a machine that provides mechanical ventilation by moving breathable air into and out of the lungs, to deliver breaths to a patient who is physically unable to breathe, or breathing insufficiently.

This gives the patient time to fight off the infection and recover.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), some 80% of people with Coronavirus disease can recover without needing hospital treatment.

But one person in six becomes seriously ill and can develop breathing difficulties.

In these severe cases, the virus causes damage to the lungs. The body’s immune system detects this and expands blood vessels so more immune cells enter.

But this can cause fluid to enter the lungs, making it harder to breathe, and causing the body’s oxygen levels to drop.

To alleviate this, a machine ventilator is used to push air, with increased levels of oxygen, into the lungs.

The ventilator also has a humidifier, which modifies heat and moisture to the medical air so it matches the patient’s body temperature.

Patients are given medication to relax the respiratory muscles so their breathing can be fully regulated by the machine.

Ghana is currently battling the spread of the disease in the country.

The country currently has 378 confirmed cases of the disease.