Ghana Red Cross Society not funded for 6-years - Samuel Addo

The Ghana Red Cross Society, an organization set up by an Act of Parliament (Act 10 of 1958) that plays a critical role in ensuring public safety and disaster management, has not received funding from Government for the past six (6) years.

Efforts to get the Government to resource the organization to be able to deliver on its mandate have proven futile, according to the Secretary-General of the Ghana Red Cross Society, Samuel Addo.

Speaking to Host of the Morning Xpress on Radio XYZ 93.1MHZ to Neil Armstrong-Mortagbe, on Tuesday, Mr Addo disclosed that the Red Cross Society of Ghana has been left to struggle on its own resulting in several avoidable deaths being recorded.

“We need Government to resource us……..For the past six years, we have not received even 1 pesewa from Government to support us,” he disclosed, as he blamed successive Governments for the plight of the Society.

XYZ News has also learnt its only ambulance for emergency services has been grounded because they cannot raise 12,000 cedis for repair works.

This means the agency, whose services are crucial for a country with a very poor emergency response system and a virtually paralyzed NADMO because of availability of resources is incapacitated.

Mr Addo’s comments come at a time that the effectiveness of the country’s emergency institutions has been rigorously questioned following the death of former Vice-President Paa Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur.

Mr Amissah-Arthur is reported to have collapsed at a gymnasium in Accra and was later pronounced dead at the 37 Military Hospital.

Mr. Addo believes that if the Red Cross is well resourced, it can help to significantly reduce the number of avoidable deaths in the country.

Calling for help, Mr Addo lamented about the lack of commitment by both the Government and the general public towards activities of the Red Cross.