President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo yesterday launched a GHC6.1 million Police Emergency Medical Intervention Fund to provide financial support to personnel who sustain injuries in their line of duty.
The President also inaugurated a virtual medical centre/new Out Patients Department (OPD) of the Police Hospital in Accra to provide medical care to police personnel from any location across the country.
President Akufo-Addo made a personal donation of GHC100, 000 into the fund.
Speaking at the ceremony at the Police Hospital at Cantonments in Accra, he commended the police administration, the management of the Police Hospital for constructing the OPD to help decongest the existing facility which hitherto was responsible for seeing to patients with emergency cases, as well as to regular OPD patients.
“This new OPD has cost a sum of GHC 180,000 and will be dedicated to emergency cases only in line with best practices. It will ensure clear line of practices between emergency cases and OPD visits thereby improving the quality of service delivery at the hospital,” he said.
The President said the government was embarking on an agenda to digitise fully all aspects of national lifeincluding the national identification system, digital property address system, paperless port system, e-justice system, pensions and insurance, digitised land registry and mobile money to improve transparency, accountability and efficiency in the delivery of public service.
He said the GHC50, 000 virtual medical centre was an end-to-end video hospital management system that would allow patients no matter where they are located in the country to undertake virtual consultation with healthcare professionals at this hospital.
“Police personnel, irrespective of their location, can all access healthcare services from the hospital anywhere in the country at any time. Officer of the service are guaranteed a protected platform for serious consultation with the doctor,” he added.
President Addo-Dankwa said virtual OPD attendance through diagnosis, laboratory referrals, prescription of drugs and subsequent reviews among other medical processes could be done without one having to travel from his or her station.
He said the virtual medical centre, the first of its kind in the public sector, was indeed worthy of emulation and could not have come at a better time as the country continued to battle the scourge of COVID-19 which had limited person-to-person contact.
The Minister for the Interior, Mr Ambrose Dery, in his remarks said Ghana was the second safest country in Africa and 38th in the world.
He said the government was committed to promoting the welfare of personnel of all security agencies in the country.For which reason, the government in 2018 earmarked an amount of 800 to retool the Service.
The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Dr George Akuffo Dampare, lauded the government for its commitment towards the provision of logistics for the Service and also promoting the welfare and well-being of the personnel.
“The assumption of my office, the government has shown commitment to the Ghana Police Service in ensuring that logistics and the welfare of the personnel were paramount,” he added.
As part of the occasion, three police personnel who sustained injuries in their line of duty were presented with unspecified amount of money to seek treatment in Ghana and abroad.
The personnel who are beneficiaries of the fund are Chief Inspector Victor Mac Anako, Inspector Theresah Ohene and Corporal Asuman Opoku.
Present at the programme were ministers of state, members of the Police Management Board, senior police officers and the clergy.
BY ANITA NYARKO-YIRENKYI
