CalBank PLC in partnership with the Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare (AMPATH), NYU Grossman School of Medicine’s Section for Global Health, the University for Development Studies School of Medicine (UDS-SoM) has on 9th November 2022 donated some Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) worth over 3 million dollars to the Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH) to help in quality healthcare delivery. The items included 11,840 nose masks, 8,700 face shields and 31,921 safety gowns. The Bank facilitated the shipment and in-country distribution of the personal protective equipment (PPE) at a cost of USD27,500 to Ghanaian health institutions.

Speaking to the media after the presentation, the Acting Northern Regional Director of Health Service Dr Braimah Baba Abubakari said in the absence of Covid-19, there are other emerging infectious diseases like Ebola and Monkey Pox among others in some parts of the country, and the items will go a long way to help prevent these diseases.

“During the Covid-19 pandemic, the absence of PPEs created panic among our health care providers. Also, during that time, we had to fly in PPEs which we shared with the four other northern regions,” Dr Braimah said.

He said these new PPEs will be distributed to all health facilities in the region including CHPS compounds. “Even though Covid-19 has gone down, we are glad to receive this donation because not long ago we had outbreaks of other infectious conditions, monkey pox outbreak which is still ongoing in some parts of the country,” he added.

The Acting Director said about 64 percent of the population in the region were fully vaccinated against Covid-19, the highest in the country. He added that about 34 percent of the population also received the second booster, minimizing the cases of Covid-19 in the region during the pandemic.

“As we speak today, the coverage of vaccination against Covid-19 in the region is the highest in the country. Today, we have almost 64 percent of our population fully vaccinated, and we have up to 34 percent of our people who have even gone ahead to receive a booster of the vaccine.” He added.

The Brand Manager of CalBank, Mrs. Vincentia Amanor said the Bank has been supportive in the health sector as part of its corporate social responsibility, especially during the outbreak of Covid-19. “We have been excited to be part of this partnership. Over the years, CalBank has been supportive in the health sector but the level of our support was heightened during the outbreak of the Covid-19 where we got the chance to partner AMPATH-Ghana to bring some medical supplies to the country,” she said.

The Director, Sector for Global Heath Dr Rajesh Vedanthan said the donation was born out of AMPATH’s partnership with the Medical School at the University for Development Studies. “The question that we were faced is can we take academic partnership? Can one medical school on one side of the ocean partner with other medical schools on the other side of the ocean? Can the partnership between two medical schools work also with the teaching hospital? Can the partnership between these two medical schools also work with the Ghana Health Service? Can the partnership between these two medical schools bring together all the different stakeholders? And the answer is yes!” He added.

Dr Rajesh Vedanthan appreciated CalBank for their swiftness in facilitating the entire process. He also added that it is AMPATH’s hope to work with the Ghana Health Service, TTH and other stakeholders across the country to deliver quality health care.