The Health Minister, Kwaku Agyeman Manu has given a blow-by-blow account of what transpired during the procurement of the Sputnik-V vaccine.

According to him, the country needed vaccines urgently although the commodity was scarce on the global market.

He further noted that the decision was tough but considering the number of lives being lost, he had to make a decision after consultation with his technical team.

“When the issue of Sputnik-V came up, in fact, there was a decision to go in for more vaccines because there was scarcity of vaccines as many countries had closed their borders. 

“What encouraged us to buy those vaccines was that the same vaccine was sold at $38 elsewhere, so considering that, we thought it was cheap,” he explained on Adom FM’s Burning Issues.

Mr. Agyeman Manu debunked claims that his outfit rejected cheaper offers and went in for that particular deal.

 “It was through the search for the vaccines that some other people offered us some, but it was some kind of take and pay which you would still have to pay even when you haven’t received yet”.

“As at now, WHO has chosen two countries which have managed the Covid-19 effectively and so many are chasing me to assist them in controlling Covid-19 just as we were able to control ours.”

The Health Minister, Kwaku Agyeman Manu with his team at the Ministry contracted middleman, Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook Al Maktoum, to procure the Sputnik-V vaccines at $19 per dose.

Appearing before a Nine-member Adhoc Committee probing circumstances leading to the purchase of the vaccines, Mr. Agyeman Manu denied any wrongdoing saying he had to resort to middlemen because the manufacturers were unwilling to sell directly.

He also explained why they transacted the deal without parliamentary approval.

Due to this, a section of Ghanaians called for the resignation of the Health Minister as they believed he was incompetent.