Ghana’s first-ever 100-bed Isolation and Treatment Facility, funded by the Covid-19 Private Sector Fund is nearing completion.

The project, located at the Ga East Municipal Hospital, will be the country’s National Coronavirus Treatment Centre and will further strengthen and enhance government’s ability to deal with the spread of the pandemic.

In an interview with JoyNews’ Maxwell Agbagba, Project Manager, Kofi Essel Appiah said contractors are racing to complete the project within the six-week timeframe.

“The projected time is six weeks, we are about half way through and the project is also about half way through in terms of completion.

“The walls are up at various levels and indeed some finishing has started on this job. We are working progressively, looking hard at the target ahead of us,” he added.

Mr Appiah said strict hygiene protocols are adhered to at the site although construction is still ongoing.

Workers are tested for coronavirus every fortnight, they wear face masks and wash their hands regularly in order to prevent infection and possible spread of the disease, he added.

“It is just an attempt to keep tight protocols this is a centre for the treatment of Covid-19 and we have to be very careful and that us what we are doing.”

The Covid-19 Private Sector Fund hopes to construct similar facilities in other parts of the country, which will be used for the treatment of Covid-19 and other infectious diseases.

Covid-19 Private Sector Fund

The Ghana Covid-19 Private Sector Fund, which seeks to raise a minimum of ¢100 million was established by a number of private businesses drawn from diverse sectors in the country, to support government’s efforts to conquer the coronavirus pandemic.

The Fund also seeks to extend relief services to individuals and families, who have been hardest hit by the pandemic, undertake sensitisation programmes and also support institutions at the forefront of the fight.

Since its establishment, the Fund has been embarking on a number of projects in conformity with its agenda.

Through one of its initiatives dubbed ‘Feed A Kayayo Project” more than 140,000 free hot meals have been served to persons affected by the lockdown in Accra and Kumasi.

Under its project dubbed “Protect and Resource the Frontline,” the Fund has also supplied tertiary care personal protective equipment (PPE) to the Ga East Municipal Hospital, which is the primary treatment centre for Covid-19 patients.