Our hospital is for the benefit of the general public – BoG contradicts Health Minister

The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has denied earlier reports that suggest that its medical facility will be used by Very Important Persons (VIPs) who contract the novel coronavirus.

A statement 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.”

The Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyemang-Manu, at the Minister's Press briefing on Wednesday, stated that the Ministry had reached an agreement with the Central Bank to treat staff of the bank and Very Important Person (VIPs) who test positive for COVID-19 at the Bank of Ghana hospital.

He explained that, the Bank of Ghana hospital is an autonomous institution hence the need for government to reach an agreement with the bank before the health facility could be used for COVID-19 cases.

“A lot of people have been blaming 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,” Mr. Agyemang-Manu said.

Ghana’s current active case of the novel Coronavirus is 195 with 5 deaths.

Health Minister, Kwaku Agyemang-Manu, on Wednesday, indicated that 58 infected persons are receiving treatment at home after 20 of them were recently discharged.

Read BoG's full statement below



Watch what the minister actually said below.