Covid-19: GMA Worried Over Lack Of PPE, Shortage Of Test Kits

The Ghana Medical Association (GMA) has lamented the inadequacy of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for frontline health personnel leading the country’s fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The association, wants the government to expeditiously find solutions towards supplying the PPE to health facilities across the country to reduce the rate of infections among health personnel.

“Health professionals continue to face huge challenges accessing the appropriate PPE for their work. This has contributed significantly to large numbers of health professionals getting infected in the line of duty. The GMA calls on the government to as a matter of priority and urgency, provide the needed PPE's (both in quality and quantity) at all times to address the recurrent inadequacy of PPE at health facilities. Any supply chain challenges should also be addressed with immediate effect”, a statement from the GMA noted.

GMA has also raised concerns over what it believes is the inadequacy of essential medication needed to manage the country's Coronavirus cases and demands that “the periodic shortages of the needed drugs for case management should be addressed with immediate effect.”

This is not the first time the Association has decried the distribution of PPE to health facilities although the government has assured of significant domestic production and supply of protective equipment to health workers as they wage war on COVID-19.

The group says, it is faced with an all-time high challenge of inadequate PPE and wants a proper mode of distribution so it members do not endanger their lives.

Some medical doctors and other health practitioners have tested positive for COVID-19 in line with duty.

Meanwhile, GMA has asked for the institution of stringent measures to curtail the increase in cases due to the high communal spread.

Currently, Ghana has recorded 17,741 Coronavirus cases as of Tuesday, June 30, 2020.

The total number of recoveries and deaths is pegged at 13,268 and 112 respectively.

---citinewsroom