Health Minister ‘misspoke’ on treatment of VIPs at BoG hospital – Oppong Nkrumah

Ghana's Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has admitted that Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman Manu misspoke on the treatment of VIPs who have tested positive for coronavirus at the Bank of Ghana hospital.

“I think he probably misspoke and the Bank has provided some clarity,” Mr. Nkrumah said in an interview on Citi TV, April 1, 2020.

The health minister on Wednesday at a press briefing in Accra, told the media the government and the central bank of Ghana have reached an agreement to treat staff of the bank and Very Important Person (VIPs) who test positive for COVID-19 at the Bank of Ghana hospital.

“A lot of people have been blaming the government as to why the Bank of Ghana Hospital is not being used for coronavirus treatment despite the facility being well equipped to treat coronavirus.

Let me say that, the Bank of Ghana health facility is not under the entire control of the government. We had to go into an agreement with them and the bank has agreed in addition to their own staff to have VIP people at their facility.”

The announcement was not well received by Ghanaians hence called out the Central Bank for opening up the facility for only a select group of people in the country.

A lot of critics took to their social media pages to register their disappointment.



However, the Bank of Ghana in a press statement copied to GhanaWeb has denied the minister's comment that suggests that its medical facility will be used by Very Important Persons (VIPs) who contract the novel coronavirus.

The statement signed by the BoG Secretary, Sandra Thompson, notes that the medical facility is available to the benefit of the general public.

She said the BoG reached an agreement with the Ministry of Health that the facility will "assist in the treatment of severe and critical cases of COVID-19. This arrangement will be available for the benefit of the general public.”