Church in Ghana Appeals for Protective Gear to Aid Catholic Hospitals Battling COVID-19

In the letter, the Ghanaian clerics calls upon potential partners to donate either directly to any of the country’s Catholic-run medical facilities or to drop their donations at the Accra-based NCS.

According to the March 27 appeal letter seen by ACI Africa, resource constraints, global shortage of PPEs and other basic medical supplies stand in the way of preventing new infections and spread of COVID-19.

“This (shortage) particularly makes the situation grim for our health professionals whose jobs bring them face-to-face with the disease,” says Fr. Anondee.

The Priest commended “brave professionals in our midst” who he said had embraced their jobs as a calling to serve humanity and that “they do these at the peril of their own lives, those of their families and other patients.”

He also lauded the leadership of the Church in Ghana as well as the country’s government who he said were doing everything possible to make the PPEs available for use in hospitals but noted the scarcity that the facilities were grappling with.

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According to Fr. Anondee, the Catholic Church in Ghana is preparing for a possible lockdown of the country as a measure to contain the spread of the deadly virus that has claimed the lives of at least 37,780 people globally.

“We also anticipate that in the case of a lockdown, the Secretariat has planned to feed and provide shelter for those in need especially in our cities,” he said.

On March 27, the President of Ghana announced, in his 4^th nationwide televised address that movements in some urban areas in the country especially Accra and Kumasi will be restricted from Monday, March 30, for two weeks as part of government measures to control the spread of the coronavirus.

Samuel Zan Akologo, Executive Secretary of Caritas Ghana told ACI Africa correspondent in an interview March 28 that the nine-month (April to December 2020) National Emergency Response Plan for COVID-19 was put in place to ensure that the poor and vulnerable receive critical and basic services during this difficult time.

“Caritas Ghana is working with the Caritas Organizations of the affected Dioceses (Accra and Kumasi) to mobilize humanitarian services for the Homeless and most vulnerable who will be hardest hit by the lockdown,” Mr. Akologo said and added, “In the short term, Parishes in Accra are being approached to assist with places for shelter and feeding centers.”

According to the Caritas Ghana Executive Secretary, it is in times of humanitarian crises like this that the dignity of the poor must be upheld, promoted and protected.

He cautioned, “Caritas Ghana invokes its safeguarding policy to ensure that no harm is done to this social segment of great deprivation.”

Mr. Akologo noted that Caritas Ghana staff are coordinating all our efforts from their respective homes, adding that arrangements would be made with the Security Agencies to ensure access to the poor to provide them with critical services for their survival.

He said the main objective of the response plan was to contribute and support all Catholic health facilities to manage COVID-19, reach the faithful with spiritual and psychological support, and ensure basic needs support to vulnerable persons and households in a restricted environment (lockdown).

He said, “It is also to engage government proactively to provide resources and policy direction to managing COVID-19 and to target communities with genuine information on COVID-19 for social behaviour change.”

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