More than 260 health commodity containers cleared from port -Dr Okoe Boye

Dr Bernard Okoe Boye, Minister of Health, Friday said more than 260 containers of essential medicines, including tuberculosis and malaria medicines, as well as mosquito nets, have been cleared from the port. He said, however, there were still more mosquito nets locked up, adding that, those ones would also be cleared. 'We have more than 260 containers that have been cleared from the port. So all the TB medicines are out, all the malaria medicines are out. But it appears that we have so much of nets that after clearing all the goods we've just been informed at the Ministry that new discoveries have been made of more mosquito nets,' he said. Dr Okoe Boye made this known in Accra when the Ministry of Health presented 40 vehicles to the Ghana Health Service (GHS) to boost the Service's healthcare delivery in the country. There have been weeks of agitations for locked-up health commodities at the port to be cleared, with several stakeholders calling on the Health Ministry to take action. Dr Okoe Boye said the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) had put in the systems to gazette the remaining items and to get those ones too, out of the port. He emphasised that the processes between the Ministry and the GRA had been 'streamlined so that in the future we will not have this occurring again'. He commended the media for the advocacy role they played to get the locked-up containers cleared. 'I would like to thank you for your vigilance and to also assure you that we are committed to our words, we are committed to our assurances and we are committed to service delivery,' Dr Okoe Boye said. Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, Director-General, GHS, said the Service had received the cleared medicines, noting that, they had started distribution and would ensure that all regions where there were shortages had their supplies. Source: Ghana News Agency