Outlive attitude of delaying clearing of medical supplies!
Once again this year, a coalition of civil society organisations (CSOs) is calling on the government to clear medical supplies gifted the country by donors, which are locked up at the port.
It would be recalled that in April this year, a coalition of CSOs held a press conference to draw the government’s attention to some locked-up medical commodities donated by the Global Fund.
Then in the second week of June, when the government appeared delaying in clearing the medical supplies, members of the Country Coordinating Mechanism (Ghana CCM) of the Global Fund in Ghana, another CSO, threatened to hit the streets on June 25, 2024, to register their displeasure.
In the end, the government released GH¢7.4 million to the Ministry of Health to facilitate the clearance of the essential medical supplies, which had been at the Tema Port for over a year, before the June 25 date set for the CSOs’ demonstration.
What caused the delay in clearing the life-saving supplies, which could easily be resolved when the government heard of the impending demonstration?
This attitude of the government is not new and not related to only donated medical items either.
For instance, the Ministry of Health was frustrated in clearing imported consignments of medical supplies some of which arrived at the Tema Port in 2012 and the rest in 2013 until 2015, when it succeeded in clearing the items, including theatre beds, medical consumables, infusions, X-ray protective guards, pacifiers, and specimen collection kits.
In the current case, a coalition of 55 CSOs working in the reproductive health sector in the country has called on the government to immediately clear essential commodities to sustain family planning (FP) gains in the country.
The FP commodities worth over $1.6 million, which have remained locked up at the Tema Port since February this year, include contraceptive supplies.
The medical supplies, donated by the UNFPA and West Africa Health Organisation (WAHO), remain at the port due to unpaid duties and demurrage fees, allegedly leading to shortages of key contraceptive supplies at the central and regional medical stores and health facilities across the country.
The Ghanaian Times is at a loss as to why this negative attitude of the government refusing to release funds to clear medical supplies, whether donated or imported by the MOH.
Among the comity of nations, Ghana is applauded for efforts in improving its health sector, but it can’t be lost on reasonable persons that this negative attitude and its attendant problems are a blot on that reputation.
When is this going to be a thing of the past?
Even though The Ghanaian Times cannot pin-point the source(s) of the problem, it can boldly guess that public officials and political appointees with vested interest are behind the problem.
Would the clearance have delayed that long if vehicles and other items for personal use by public officials were donated or imported?
In an era where health is being emphasised more than ever in the history of mankind, the government’s delay in clearing medical supplies is a great error.
And this is particularly so with the current case at a time unbridled population growth is projected to derail the country’s progress and contraceptive supplies significantly play a role in checking troublesome population growth.
