Kumasi, June 11, GNA – POS Foundation, facilitators of the Justice for All Programme, has donated quantities of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to the Kumasi Central Prison.
The items were donated under the Covid-19 Prisons Response Outreach Project, which is being funded by the German Development Cooperation (GIZ) and Open Society Foundation (OSF).
They included; Vitamin C, Veronica Buckets, automated hand washing machine fitted with liquid soaps, bins, tissue, gloves and some food items, totaling GH¢41, 000.00.
Speaking at the presentation ceremony, Mr Jonathan Osei Owusu, Executive Director of POS Foundation, commended the Ghana Prisons Service for the pre-emptive protocols adopted which had significantly contributed towards safeguarding the security of prisoners and ensuring their overall well-being.
He said the professionalism, strict adherence to precautionary security protocols and contingency plans put in place by the Ghana Prison Service, which included a health alert communicated regularly to the inmates, have worked to prevent and contain the spread of covid-19 in the prisons.
Mr Owusu pointed out that prison officers were playing vital role as frontline workers and stressed the need for the government to provide incentives and contagious disease allowance for prison officers for the dedication, professionalism and health risk taken in these crucial times.
He called on prison authorities and officers to safeguard the good record and continuously adhere to the strict protocols, though there was gradual ease of restrictions by the government.
Dr Lawrence Kofi Acheampong, Medical Director of the Ghana Prisons Service, said the prisons had a lot of risk factors which could expose both officers and inmates to the coronavirus.
He said a possible outbreak of the virus in the prisons would have serious ramifications for the country.
That was why the leadership of the Service instituted stringent preventive measures in accordance with the national and international protocols to safeguard the prisons.
Deputy Director of Prisons (DDP) Mr Samuel Owusu Amponsah, Ashanti Regional Director of Prisons, appealed to the officers to strictly follow all the protocols in order not to carry the virus into the prisons and their homes.
GNA