The call by the Minister of Health, Mr. Kwaku Agyeman-Manu for the harmonisation of efforts among member states of ECOWAS to mitigate some of the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the sub-region is one the trending stories in the Ghanaian press on Monday.
The Graphic reports that the Minister of Health, Mr. Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, has called for the harmonisation of efforts among member states of ECOWAS to mitigate some of the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the sub-region.
That, he noted, was to ensure the consistency of policies and measures implemented by the various states.
Mr. Agyeman-Manu, who made the call at the 22nd Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Assembly of Health Ministers in Abuja-Nigeria last Friday, noted that working together would promote the flagship project of free movement.
He said it would also ease restriction measures to facilitate the movement of goods, people, capital and services, while at the same time strengthening health and sanitation measures.
Mr. Agyeman-Manu explained that aside from health, the pandemic had had a heavy toll on economies in the sub-region, a “situation which threatens to impede our ability to sustain the response effort”.
He referred to a recent report by Reliefweb, which showed that the rate of spread of COVID-19 in the ECOWAS region and the measures taken to halt the spread were draining the socio-economic system of member states.
The newspaper says that the newly established Ghana-China Business Chamber of Commerce has given an assurance that it will support small and medium-sized businesses in the country to thrive.
According to the Vice-Chairman and General Secretary of the chamber, Mr Liu Wen-Min, the chamber will provide support and credit facilities for the entities which represent 85 per cent of businesses in Ghana and serve as a major player of the Ghanaian economy.
“We would provide credit facilities for these enterprises to remain competitive in the job market and in the business world.
“We will also ensure the provision of guarantees for the import and export of goods from both countries,” he told the Daily Graphic in an interview in Accra last Wednesday.
Mr Wen-Min revealed that the chamber was set up to first and foremost provide information to Ghanaian companies, invest in Ghanaian companies and build factories to augment manufacturing and production in the country.
“We are here to provide financial support to Ghanaian companies, support them, liaise with them to enhance growth and development while creating and providing jobs for the Ghanaian market,” he said.
The Ghana-China Business Chamber of Commerce was launched last Saturday to foster growth and development between the two countries.
It aimed at easing trade tensions among the two nations and closely bring together traders, importers and exporters from the two countries.
The Ghanaian Times reports that the Ministry of Health has over the last two years secured over 6,000 financial clearances to employ the backlog of Allied Health Professionals who have been validated by the Allied Health Professions Council (AHPC).
The Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, in a speech read on his behalf by the Chief Director of the Ministry, Mr Kwabena Boadu Oku-Afari, said this at the induction ceremony for newly qualified allied health graduates in Accra on Wednesday.
“The Ministry of Health has secured over 6,000 clearance from the Ministry of Finance over the last two years to employ a backlog of Allied Health professionals whose qualifications and certificates have been validated by the Allied Health Council and are found to be in good standing of employment,” he said.
Indicating that the number had been the highest in a long while, Mr Agyeman-Manu underscored that the work of Allied Health Professionals was crucial to the health care delivery system in the country.
He added that Allied Health Professionals constituted a key part in the multi-disciplinary team dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mr Agyeman-Manu, therefore, professed that winning the fight against COVID-19 was also hinged on the collective efforts of all health workers across the country.
He charged the inductees to make the most of the knowledge they have garnered and accept their places of posts to serve the country in order to impact all and sundry.
GIK/APA