Ghana Is On Top Of COVID-19 – Dutch Ambassador

Mr Ron Strikker, the Dutch Ambassador, has commended the government’s response to COVID-19, saying, it is on top of the issues.

“We feel safe and also I feel healthy in this country. People always ask me in the Netherlands, ‘are you safe there, can you stay; and I say yes, I feel safe, the government is on top of it, the people of Ghana, the nurses, the doctors, and other front line workers are all on top of it.

The Ambassador said this at a ceremony in Accra, when the Embassy presented Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to Solidaridad, an International Civil Society Organisation in Accra for onward distribution to some health facilities in the cocoa and oil palm growing areas in the country.

 “We are now being confronted with COVID-19, but let me say in general, I am speaking on behalf of my government, and also on behalf of all the people of the international community here in Ghana, that we congratulate the government of Ghana for the approach and the measures it has taken to fight the COVID for the people of Ghana”, the Ambassador stated.

He said the Dutch government was very much happy to support the front line health workers who bore the brunt of the virus, adding that, the Embassy was also proud of the more than 2000 health workers in Ghana, reported to have been infected with the virus and were getting better, “they are working for us and we are proud to help them”.

“We will fight the COVID together, as we grow and work together with Ghana”, Mr Strikker said.

By mid-July 2020, the Netherlands had provided support to Ghana’s efforts at combating COVID-19 with four million Ghana Cedis.

Among some of the interventions and initiatives that had been provided is the COVID Connect Centre, a virtual monitoring app with a back-end Care Coordination Centre that gives subscribers access to needed clinical support from a team of medical experts and specialists, launched within the University of Ghana Medical Centre.

Another initiative of the Dutch company, Universal Delft, was supporting hospitals and clinics in Ghana, which were earlier assisted in getting
X-ray equipment installed in their facilities as part of a large Dutch-funded 30 million euro Infrastructure programme, to receive and install small computer boxes with Delft CAD4COVID-software.

The software contains Artificial Intelligence, which helps to detect at a very early stage lung conditions caused by COVID.

At the global level, The Netherlands have contributed over 100 million euros to the World Health Organisation for the fight against COVID-19 in most vulnerable countries.

The support aims at preventing and combating COVID-19, as well as mitigating socio-economic consequences.