Dr. Clement Apaak, MP for Builsa South
The Member of Parliament for Builsa South Dr. Clement Apaak, is questioning how blood delivered by drones would be administered in facilities that lack basic equipment and professionals.
The legislator in a reaction to the decision by government to use drones to deliver bloods and other essential medicines wondered why government has failed to provide proper structures and improve upon some deprived facilities and rather investing the money in drones.
In a post he shared on his social media pages, he quizzed: ‘’Drones to transport blood to remote areas?
He added: And how will the blood be administered when the basic equipment and professionals are not in such rural areas!
He lamented the deprived nature of some of the facilities in his constituency and said: ‘’By all standards many communities in my constituency are remote; Kalasa, Bachongsa, Yepala, Gbdembilisi, Suik, Abaayeri, Gobsa to name a few! Upgrade our Fumbisi clinic to a district hospital, complete the uncompleted CHPS compounds and equip them, fix our roads to make it easy to move the sick to Sandema or Bolga, and give us ambulances, these will be most useful in protecting and saving lives not Drones!
He concluded saying: ‘’The physical and medical infrastructure and architecture to complement blood transfusion in many communities in my constituency, a rural constituency with remote settlements, simply doesn’t exist, so why waste funds on Drones when we lack the basics!
The Ghana Health Service (GHS) is in favor of the deal saying it is the most efficient and cost-effective means of reaching under-served areas in the country.
According to the Director General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Anthony Nsiah-Asare, the use of drone technology to deliver emergency services fits perfectly into government’s plan of achieving access to Universal healthcare in the country.
Government of Ghana has signed Aa$12 million contract for the design, installation and operation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), otherwise known as drones, for the delivery of medicines and other medical supplies to health facilities across the country has been awarded to Silicon Valley-based logistics company, Zipline International Incorporated.
The contract has been awarded through sole-sourcing to Zipline following an approval from the Public Procurement Authority, whose November 16, 2018, correspondence to the Minister of Health and signed by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Authority, AB Adjei, stated, among other things, that “we also noted the rather strong argument put up by the Service Provider to justify their pricing; indicating that the price offered to the Ministry of Health is comparable to prices for similar operations in other jurisdictions.
