A Program Coordinator in Economic Governance, Felix Ankrah said every government (Ghana) desires to provide a good and robust health system for citizens.
In his view, various interventions must be put in place to ensure a resilient health sector that is accountable and offers equal healthcare delivery to all individuals whether poor, rich, young or old.
“Specifically we seek transparency and accountability to strengthen the system, to make the nurses and doctors efficient by providing them with resources and make the whole health sector better. We hope to extend it to other sector to realise the Ghana Beyond Aid,” he stated.
According to him, the country’s health system is currently not resilient and the only way to ensure it is improved is through accountability. Adding that, stakeholders must ensure that government effectively utilizes money set aside for the health sector.
The Head of the Public Health Department at the Effia-Nkwanta Regional Hospital, Dr Nana Esi Gaisie said upon the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization suggested the opening of a Covid-19 Technology Access Pool to receive diverse solutions from experts to help mitigate the pandemic as was done for other viruses including HIV/ AIDS, a move she explained helped in saving an estimated amount of 1.23 billion dollars for the world.
She however added that the move was not possible, as Covid vaccines were varied and patent rights of each vaccine was owned by different manufacturers. She explained that the move was a human right duty that required political intervention and international agreement hence the challenge.
Dr Gaisie noted that other avenues were therefore employed to make the vaccines available to every country through purchase and donation.
She said the Ghana Health Service has put measures in place to ensure every vaccine is accounted for and used for its intended purpose.
” In May, people who have handled vaccines in the region will be audited and they will be inquired to bring in legible books, vouchers, everything and all their books that are related to Covid-19 for auditing. So nobody is really free from national level to grassroot. Everybody is being audited to ensure that there is transparency,” Dr mentioned.
The Programme Assistant for Budgit Ghana, Nancy Akpene said the mandate of Budgit is to promote the use of technology to demand accountability for individuals to take action within their communities.
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She noted that the work of Budgit revolves around four key pillars, which are providing simplified access to budgets and related public finance data, project monitoring for efficient service delivery, promoting accountability and fiscal inclusion in the extractive industries and also offering support to willing government, media and civil society institutions.
Some participants were of the view that refusal on the part of some individuals to take the vaccine is a result of ignorance and churning of conspiracy theories.
Budgit Ghana, a non-Governmental organization has held a town hall meeting on Covid 19 Transparency and Accountability in Africa at Sekondi.
The meeting was geared towards empowering citizens to demand accountability in the health sector, particularly on issues regarding Covid-19 and its vaccination drive.
