The Minister for Health, Mr Kwaku Agyeman- Manu, says Ghana has expended US$305.42 million out of the US$430.00 million COVID-19 funding support provided by the World Bank on emergency preparedness.

He said at a press briefing in Accra on Wednesday that the amount used, represented 71.03 percent of the funds received.

He said the money was used for the procurement of items as part of the nation’s emergency response to the pandemic.

Mr Agyeman- Manu said a total of US$37,588,199.99 was used for the procurement of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for health facilities, isolation centers, and schools across the country.

A total of US$53,063,564.98 was used for the purchase of medical equipment such as oxygen, ventilators, respiratory instruments, suctions devices, sterilizers, among others.

He said a sum of US$9,867,339.79 was also used to buy COIVD-19 Infection Prevention Control Commodities such as Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) tools.

Additionally, US$2,539,379.51 was used to purchase sanitizers and paper towels while US$8,735,273.78 was spent on cleaning materials.

The Minister said US$87,731.77 was used to acquire vehicles and US$22,328,364.85 was used to refurbish and equip COVID-19 treatment and holding centres.

Similarly, US$147,483,170.16 was used to acquire vaccines, and US$95,083.85 was spent on consultancy for the Center for Disease Control (CDC).

The Health Minister said the Government of Ghana (GoG) also allocated a total of GHC662,541,104.53 to the management of the pandemic.

He said GHC114,450,350.00 of the GoG funds was also used to purchase PPEs, GHC32,663,280.00 to buy medicines, GHC484,102,490.90 on Infection, Prevention and Control commodities.

An additional GHC31,324,983.63 was spent on COVID-19 transfers to agencies, meetings, and conferences.

Mr Agyeman-Manu described Ghana’s COVID-19 management as a success despite the huge expenditures made.

“At the time the pandemic struck, we did not have equipment and structures in place to respond to the emergency, most of the things, things were done on urgent basis,” he said.

He commended President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for his direct involvement in the management of the pandemic by ensuring that initiatives to contain the virus and avert deaths were implemented on time.

The Health Minister said the pandemic had impacted the country’s economy negatively, leading to low productivity, low cash flow, and high trade charges.

He appealed to Ghanaians to visit the vaccination centers and get inoculated, saying “COVID-19 has come to stay, it will not leave, get vaccinated to help us ease restrictions to revive the economy,” he said.

The Minister said as of February 7, a total of 11,835,359 COVID-19 doses had been administered with at least 8,325,791 persons receiving a dose.