World Vision appeals to govt to exempt ‘Gift-in-Kind’ taxes
The National Director of World Vision Ghana (WVG), Ms Cristina Del Valle, has appealed to the government to exempt them from ‘Gift-in-Kind’ taxes on items they receive from donors.
According to her, this move would motivate their partners and donors to commit more resources to bring extra non-medical logistics to support the health delivery system in the country.
“World Vision Ghana would like to take this opportunity to call on the government of Ghana, through the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service, to grant us tax exemption on Gift-in- Kind items we receive from our donors in complementing the government’s efforts to provide quality health care,” she stated.
Ms De Valle made the call at a presentation on Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) from the WVG to the Ghana Health Service (GHS) in Accra last Friday.
About 230,000 protective gowns, worth over $2 million, were donated to GHS to help protect health workers in the country.
She stated that the donation formed part of their support to the government in its quest to strengthen the health system in ending Health care Facility Associated Infections.
Highlighting the impact of COVID-19 on health workers, Ms De Valle stated that when WVG is exempted from the Gift-in- Kind items tax, it would assist them to continue supporting health workers by protecting them.
“The request is basically because we have donors who are very interested to continue providing some resources and items to support the health service in other areas as well, but we need to have this tax exemption to be able to bring these items to make it available to the system,” she stressed.
Being a nonprofit organisation, she said they needed to effectively use the resources made available to them, so exempting them from the tax would mean they could serve more people.
Receiving the items, the Acting Director, Institutional Care Division, GHS, Dr Lawrence Ofori Boadu, said the donation was timely as they were tasked to protect health workers.
He noted that due to unavailability of these protective equipment during the COVID-19 period, most workers were exposed to the disease while working hard to save the communities.
“So we are really grateful to WVG for this donation as we are talking about preparedness and protecting our workforce. It is going to help them since it is one of the commonest thing we wear when we are working in our hospitals,” he said.
To be able to achieve the universal health coverage, Dr Boadu called on other organisations and corporate bodies to support GHS with PPEs to help improve the health service delivery.
He assured WVG he would relay their request through the Ministry of Health to reach the government.
BY CECILIA LAGBA YADA
