Airtel donates 1,500 phones and SIM cards to MoH

 

Airtel Ghana has donated 1,500 mobile handsets and Airtel SIM cards to the Ministry of Health in support of the ministry’s community-based health planning and services programme (CHPS).

These mobile lines will be put in a Close User Group service, so that calls made on the network within the service group are free.

The community health programme is an initiative by the Ghana Health Service and Ministry of Health aimed at providing on the ground health-care to inhabitants of the community.

The phones, which will be distributed to the CHPS compounds spread across various communities all over the country, are to facilitate the communication on the network between these health centres and health workers in the execution of their duties.

In effect, beneficiaries of these handsets can call other health workers or centres in case of emergency, or solicit for assistance on a daily basis free of charge.

Presenting the phones and SIM cards to the Ministry, Managing Director Philip Sowah said health care systems in developing countries like Ghana can be more effective with proper communication support. He explained that Airtel Ghana is determined to help the Government attain its Millennium Development Goals by making available the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communications.

“Communities -- rural and urban -- are at the centre of our operations. We therefore support any initiative that will improve the standard of these communities, healthcare and education being the topmost.”

Accepting the items, the Minister of Health, Sherry Ayitey, acknowledged the fact that this is one clear step that will help acceleration toward the 2015 Millennium Development Goals.

The Minister said: “We are proud to partner Airtel in this direction, and by this singular gesture Airtel has set a new standard in the roll-out of our close-to-client policy”.

Airtel Ghana has over the years distinguished itself as the leader in corporate social responsibility by initiating projects like Touching Lives which have greatly impacted communities and individuals in Ghana.

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