The government recruited over 58,000 healthcare workers to boost its fight against COVID-19 during the peak of the pandemic, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has disclosed.
According to him, the government was committed to ensuring the safety of all Ghanaians adding that it took some difficult but necessary decisions including healthcare recruitment.
He said “Our priority then was the health and safety of Ghanaians and that is why we put in place a comprehensive strategy in place to deal with the virus whose incidences were unknown, and we were restrained from shaking hands and hugging each other, and we had to endure stress caused by the poking of our noses and throats anytime we underwent a PCR swap.”
Speaking at the National Honours and Awards at the Accra International Conference Center, Nana Addo said “the government also found the money to recruit, on a permanent basis, 58,041 more health professionals. COVID-19 inspired our domestic manufacturing capabilities and deepened our self-reliance. The pharmaceutical industry under my instigation responded positively to the need for the domestic production of sanitizers, disinfectants, and liquid soaps.”
Furthermore, he indicated that Ghana procured GH¢81 million worth of personal protective equipment such as face masks, garments, medical scrubs, and hospital gowns from domestic garment and textile manufacturing companies for health workers and students who wrote their final exams during the period.
Source: EMMANUEL TORNYI