The delivery of essential medicines and blood to health facilities in hard-to-reach communities which would commence next month by Drones would be the biggest in the world, the Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has stated.
The Drone service which will be operated by Zipline Ghana is expected to transport 149 key medical supplies across the country to improve healthcare delivery with 14 million people expected to benefit.
Dr. Bawumia made this known in Accra when he opened the Fifth Conference of the African Health Economics and Policy Association (AfHEA) on Monday, March 11.
Parliament, last year approved the Zipline Drone project to operate in the country to improve medical services in deprived communities.
Ghana will become the second nation in Africa, after Rwanda, to adopt the drone technology for distribution of essential medical supplies.
The Vice President who was the Special Guest of Honour also reiterated government’s policy to ensure that all the 275 constituencies across the country have at least one ambulance by June this year, to supplement healthcare delivery as part of the inclusive transformation agenda.
Ghana currently has less than 50 working ambulances across the country.
The Vice President in his inaugural speech also stated that Diseases and sickness do not know borders, politics or ethnicity and, therefore, called on all health practitioners and key stakeholders to rally together to find solution to health issues, especially as the African Continent lagged behind in many health indicators.
He added that African nations needed to double their efforts to curb the high infant mortality rate so as to meet the SDG target by 2030 and called for multi-disciplinary approach to deal with the health challenges.
The four-day conference, which is also being used to mark the 10th Anniversary of the Association, is under the theme: “Securing Primary Healthcare for All, the Foundation for Making Progress on Universal Health Care in Africa”.
The meeting attracted more than 450 members of the Association, comprising health experts and practitioners, researchers and students, who would discuss health outcomes, policy analysis and health financing, to facilitate health sector decision-making in Africa.
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/103.5FM
