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A total of GH¢34 million in donations in support of the fight against COVID-19 has been received so far by the COVID-19 National Trust Fund.

The Chairperson of the Fund, Justice Sophia Akuffo, disclosed this when the fund presented its first set of items to the COVID-19 Care Team and the Ghana Health Service (GHS) to be distributed to various health institutions in the country.

The items include an ambulance, boxes of disposable gloves and toiletries, nose masks, two patient monitoring devices, hand sanitisers, Veronica buckets and accessories, and plastic pails.

Others are eight respiratory care products, fumigation machines, infusion pumps, Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) electrodes, packs of infudrop and packets of adult-neonatal sensors with wraps.

Assistance

At the presentation ceremony at the Ga East Municipal Hospital at Kwabenya in the Greater Accra Region yesterday, Justice Akuffo said the donation was targeted at complementing the government’s efforts at combatting the novel coronavirus.

She said the items would help support the needy and vulnerable who had been afflicted and impacted negatively by the disease.

Judicious, transparent use

The former Chief Justice said since the inauguration of the Board of the COVID-19 National Trust Fund, its trustees had been overwhelmed by the numerous contributions made to the fund by corporate, non-governmental organisations and individuals.

“On behalf of the Fund managers I would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to all who have contributed to the fund,” she said, and also commended the management and staff of the Ga East Hospital for their support and hard work.

“The Board of Trustees is committed to making sure that monies and resources received are used judiciously and for their intended purposes,” she said.

“As we accumulate more gifts in kind, we will make them available for distribution. From time to time, monies that we receive will also be used to purchase requisite supplies and inputs brought to the attention of the COVID-19 Care Management Team, GHS and other recognised medical institutions,” she said.

Appreciation

The Director-General of the GHS, Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, said confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country currently stood at 1,154 out of which 120 had recovered and “majority also doing well.”

He said a significant number of the infected persons were receiving treatment at the Ga East Municipal Hospital and other holding centres across the country.

Timely donation

The Head of the COVID-19 Care Management Team, Dr Ali Sanda, received the items and described the donation as timely since many health centres were in need of personal protective equipment (PPE).

In a related development, the Trust Fund also donated PPE to some private health facilities. They include the Christian Health Association of Ghana, Ahmadiyya Health Service and the Prisons Health Service.