The Bishop of the Diocese of Damongo in the newly created Savannah Region,Most Rev.Peter Paul Angkyier,says the good thing about the novel Coronavirus Pandemic is that it helps us to rediscover who we really are as human beings on a broken and helpless world.
Whilst on a working visit to the West Gonja Catholic hospital designated as the treatment centre in the region,he noted that,albeit discomforting,COVID-19 abet us realise there is a superior being whose knowledge surpasses all the technology and wealth of the world.
He said in ending the pandemic,we ought to know that it's God who brings about healing,but prayer alone is not enough without adequate human preparedness.
According to him,people who use to hang onto certain things were now beginning to discover that there is a true God.
"From my personal experience or perspective,I think this pandemic is very uncomfortable.On the other hand,it helps us to realise something which sometimes we try to push away-the creatureliness of the human person.The brokenness of the human person.The helplessness of the human person without the one who has made the human person.We,human beings are created to be one.We allow things to divide us,but this pandemic is helping us to begin to see that we belong together,"he disclosed.
He bemoaned the lack of logistics at the recently commissioned Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and the designated treatment centre for COVID-19.
Even though,government has indicated its readiness to support,the facility in his view was not adequately prepared in terms of logistics to contain the spread of the pandemic.
Whilst calling on government and the necessary stakeholders to act,he reiterated the need not to wait and be overtaken by events before we begin to act.
The Medical Superintendent and his working staff were commended for the dedicated service in the midst of little resources.
He applauded a weekly political program,"Within the issues," hosted by Ananpansah B Abraham on PAD FM for helping to dispel rumours about the Coronavirus and redirecting the conversion to the preparedness of the region in containing the spread of the virus,in terms of logistics.
The Medical Superintendent,Dr. Vitalis A. Saadare,in an exclusive interview with PAD FM's Ananpansah,B. Abraham lamented over the lack of Personal Protection Equipment.
He said,albeit a regional treatment centre,they were not capable of taking samples,not to talk of managing cases should the worst happen due to the lack of basic protection materials.
The hope of receiving government consignment in his view was long overdue,underscoring the need to protect health personnel in their line of duty,since if they die in the process of taking care of patients there would be no one to take care of ensuing cases.
According to him,subsequent to the case involving the Damongo based Italian returnee which proved negative,the hospital has not received any support to acquire these equipment and would not be able to take a sample if a suspected case is recorded.
This is despite the fact that the facility spent not less than thousand Ghana cedis in transporting the samples to Kumasi for the necessary examination.
He said the hospital has put together a preparedness plan and would need a total amount of Ghc217,800.00 to fund the plan and another Ghc878,965.00 for all Diocesan Health Services in Damongo.
He appealed to government and other well-meaning bodies to come to the aid of the hospital.
Present also were the normalisation committee members of the hospital led by Fr.Lazarus Annyereh.
Ghana's case count now stands at 137 with four deaths and two reported recovery cases.
The Upper West Region in Northern Ghana has confirmed its first case of COVID-19,involving a 42-year old Ghanaian who visited UK and Spain and returned to Ghana through Egypt.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has announced a partial lockdown of Accra and Kumasi,the epicentres of the coronavirus diseases in Ghana effective Monday,March 30,2020.
Source: Ananpansah B Abraham
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