The much awaited promise made to frontline health workers by the President Akufo-Addo government, concerning the payment of 50% basic salary as allowance, has been fulfilled.
Deputy Minister of Health, Dr Bernard Oko Boye, while briefing Parliament about Ghana’s Covid-19 situation yesterday, indicated that 6000 frontline health workers have received their April allowance.
He indicated that these are people who were vetted and validated as having been in direct management of confirmed Covid-19 cases.
“The definition for frontline workers, as agreed on with all relevant stakeholders, is any health worker who has been involved in the management of a confirmed case of covld-19.
“I happy to mention that the 6000 health workers that were vetted and validated as having been in direct management of confirmed Covid-19 cases have had their 50% basic allowance for the month of April hit their accounts.”
It would be recalled President Akufo-Addo disclosed in one of his addresses to the nation on Ghana’s preparedness in containing the pandemic that all frontline health workers in the country would receive an additional allowance of 50 percent of their basic salary per month, for the months of April, May and June.
Dr Oko Boye, after revealing that government has paid the April allowance, also stated that the tax exemptions for health workers, which was to last for three months has also been extended by the government for another 3 months, making the package last for 6 months.
He, however, said that any health worker that is determined to have managed Covid-19 cases but not being in the current list would be evaluated and captured, if in the reviewed list.
He, however, indicated that the list, which currently stands at approximately 6000 workers, is one that can change, depending on the cases confirmed in the facilities and the number of people involved in the management.
The list is a dynamic one that changes with the current situation.
Dr Oko Boye assured the House that the commitment to health workers by the Akufo-Addo government remains unadulterated, firm in its creation and making efforts to overcome the pandemic.
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
Dr Oko Boye also took time to brief the House on the issue of Personal Protective Equipment.
The Deputy Minister indicated that Government has released hundreds of thousands of PPE to medical stores across the country and would continue to restock, monitor and evaluate to ensure that we continue to achieve sufficient levels of PPE at all times.
He indicated that the government has set up a Logistics Management Committee (LMC) at the
district level, which is aimed at strengthening and monitoring the use of PPE and ensure accountability in its usage.
He said the LMC has representatives from the Ghana Medical Association, Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association, Government Hospital Pharmacists Association, Health Services Workers Union and the Ghana Medical Laboratory Scientists Association.
Contact tracing and enhanced testing
The Deputy Minister said that Ghana has conducted 346,990 tests which translate into 11,000 tests for every 1 million of Ghana’s population.
He indicated that it is far better than what is happening in other countries and also an indication of the government’s commitment to fighting the pandemic with its last breath.
He also said that the claim that government had refused to pay contact tracers is an inaccurate narration composed to create the impression that contact tracing has been abandoned.
He indicated that the Ghana Health Service recruited volunteers who were about two thousand in number during the three weeks of lockdown to help trace and test the 30,000 plus travelers who entered Ghana before the airports were closed.
However, the assignment for these volunteers was to last for the period of the lockdown.
He explained that after the lockdown was lifted and most of the travelers traced and tested, the Ghana Health Service instructed districts to discontinue the engagement with the contracted contact tracers and revert to the use of the community health nurses for the purposes of contact tracing.
These trained outreach staff, who were on government payroll took over the task of contact tracing, which they have been doing till date.
The contracted provisional contact tracers had a defined assignment within the defined period and government has indicated its commitment to honoring its part of the bargain.
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