Constructing isolation and treatment centre indicates coronavirus pandemic not wasted – Asante

Vice President of MTN Group for South-East Africa and Ghana Region, Ebenezer Twum Asante has called on the public to contribute to the initiative by the Ghana COVID-19 Private Sector Fund to construct infectious disease isolation and treatment facilities around the country.

Mr. Asante was speaking after a visit to the site of the first of the Fund’s infectious disease treatment facilities, currently under construction, and nearing completion at the Ga East Hospital.

The Fund expects the project to be completed by the end of May (six weeks after construction began) so it can be deployed as part of the national response to the Covid-19 pandemic to treat critically ill patients. The Ghana Covid-19 Private Sector Fund expects to have similar facilities constructed in Kumasi, Takoradi and Tamale after opening the Accra project for use.

After touring the project site, Mr. Asante described the facility as one of the best responses to the COVID-19 outbreak in Ghana.

He said: “When a crisis like we have today comes up, it is also a clarion call for things to be done differently, for structures to be put in place and I want to believe that at the end of the day, this project will also be one of the things that we can all look back on and say, ‘we didn’t waste the Covid-19 crisis; out of the COVID-19 crisis we got this Isolation Centre, professionally ran to serve the needs of Ghanaians’.”

Mr. Asante, who is a Trustee of the Ghana Covid-19 Private Sector Fund, appealed to Ghanaians to contribute to the completion of the project and the construction of similar facilities in other parts of the country.

“No matter how big or small your contribution may be please come on board,” he said.

“What is most important is the thought behind it and the impression we want to leave behind and also to leave a strong legacy out of this Covid-19 so that in future, should we experience any pandemic the country will be well prepared to contain the situation.”

The Ghana COVID-19 Private Sector Fund is an initiative by private business people who set it up with a seed fund of One Million Ghana Cedis, while campaigning to raise at least One Hundred Million Ghana Cedis from local and international businesses as well as the general public to aid the fight against COVID-19 in Ghana.