Atinka TV held the maiden edition of its Stakeholders Breakfast Dialogue Friday, February 5, 2021 on the Covid-19 pandemic.
The forum was to bring on board key persons to make known to the public the realities of covid-19 in the various sectors, including challenges, innovations, deaths, outbreaks and as well recommend ways to fight the disease moving forward.
Speaking at the forum hosted by Ekourba Gyasi Simpremu, the Director, Health Promotion at the Ghana Health Service (GHS). Dr Aboagye Dacosta stated that the Service is in talks with the Ministry of Information and NCCE to begin nationwide van education on covid-19 as part of measures to stop the spread of the virus.
According to him, the van announcements will begin from Accra and epicenters and run through the other regions across the nation.
He added that, “We are also in talks with the Ministry of education NNCE to educate the public. The Van announcement will start from Accra, especially the epicenters and then roll it out in the other regions.”
Listing a number of activities by the GHS to stop the spread of the virus, he said, “We met with the police and the innovation is that if you are not in masks, they will bring you down from the vehicles. They are also going to enforce the adherence of covid-19 protocols. We have educated GPTRU and Ministry of Transport and have told them how to make sure their drivers adhere properly to the protocols. We have also told them how to open their windows to allow ventilation in their vehicles.”
He urged all to adhere to the safety protocols in order to protect themselves and others from contracting the disease.
Events
The Communications Officer for the Event Vendors Association Of Ghana, Richard Abbey, expressed the association’s readiness to work together with the Accra Municipal Assemblies and the Ghana Tourism Authority to ensure Covid-19 safety protocols are strictly adhered to at events.
He stated that the association works with carpenters, welders, designers, interior decorators and that the ban affects a large group of people.
“ We were really managing the 100 people at events and we took steps in curbing the spread. We even came up with the idea of reducing the number of people who sit at tables at our events. We also introduced digital menus where people can choose the food they will take at the event,’ he explained.
He called on people to be lenient with event organizers and not demand their monies from them looking at the ban on social gatherings.
Mortuary workers
The General Secretary for the Mortuary workers association of Ghana (MOWAG), Kofi Jordan, called on government to hasten its distribution of PPEs especially to his outfit to protect them.
Commenting on the Covid-19 deaths, Kofi Jordan noted that the figures of government does not tally with theirs.
“We have called on government to give us PPEs, but it seems it is never coming. To make matters worse, people have died without knowing it was COVID-19. When such bodies are brought to the mortuaries for preservation their fluid gets into contact with other dead bodies. And we should bear in mind that not all families request for autopsies. Families come for the bodies of their relatives who didn’t die of COVID-19 and bath them for interment. Because the family didn’t know that their bodies had come into contact with covid-19 bodies, they also get infected at the end of the day,” Kofi Jordan added.
Ghana| Atinkaonline.com