Wa, June 5, GNA – Vodafone Ghana Foundation has presented assorted Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to support management of the Upper West Regional Hospital in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.
The items included; 150 pieces of Tyvek with cover, 2,400 pieces of N95 respirator, 10 infrared non-contact gun thermometers, 2,000 anti-bacterial surface wipes, 1,500 pieces of face masks, 800 pieces of disposable gown, 2,500 latex gloves, 20 pieces of washing bowls, and 50 packs of tissue for hand drying.
The rest are 4,000 bin liners, 1,250 latex gloves, 20 protective face shields, 50 gallons of bleach, 30 gallons of antibacterial soap, 30 gallons of hand sanitizer, 30 gallons of robbing alcohol, 1,000 pieces of spinal needles, and 1,500 IV antibiotics (Cephtriaoxone).
Presenting the items, Mr Robert Kwei Blankson, the Upper West Zonal Sales Manager for Vodafone, said the gesture was part of Vodafone Ghana Foundation’s effort at helping government in the fight against COVID-19 and meningitis.
According to him, similar donations were made to other health facilities across the country, thereby demonstrating the company’s commitment to ensuring the safety of the public in the midst of the global pandemic.
He said the Vodafone Ghana Foundation was aware the facility holds COVID-19 patients and therefore deemed it fit to support with the items to help protect the frontline workers as they attended to the patients to help them overcome the disease.
“I salute all frontline workers, you are our heroes and we say ‘ayekoo’ for your dedication and sacrifice”, Mr Blankson said.
He appealed to the public to strictly adhere to the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended safety protocols such as wearing of face mask, washing hands with soap under running water, and use of alcohol base hand sanitizer among others to protect themselves and others from getting infected by the disease.
Dr Damien Punguyire, the Upper West Regional Director of Health Services noted that the Regional Hospital had managed over 60 per cent of the COVID-19 cases in the region, adding that management of the cases involved high utilization of these PPE.
He therefore commended Vodafone Ghana Foundation for the support, stressing that the items would go a long way to boost the confidence of the frontline workers.
Mr Punguyire disclosed that the region had so far recorded 22 cases of COVID-19 out of which 20 had fully recovered and were re-integrated.
He said the region was still doing aggressive contact tracing, noting that more than 2,000 samples were taken and sent for testing.
“For meningitis, we had come back to the baseline and for five weeks now, we had not had any Municipality or District experiencing outbreak”, he said noting that they were still monitoring the situation.
Dr Robert Amesiya, the Medical Director of the Upper West Regional Hospital noted that even though PPE were on regular supply to the facility by central government, they still run short of supply due to constant utilization.
He thanked Vodafone Ghana Foundation for the presentation, saying it would go a long way to augment the care for the COVID-19 patients in the facility.
Dr Amesiya urged other companies not to concentrate their donations only to health facilities down south but rather cover other remote areas including Upper West Region.
GNA