SEND Ghana, a non-governmental organization (NGO), has advised government to deposit the covid-19 levy into an identifiable fund.

According to the organization, the current fund – the consolidated fund – is not the sole fund for the revenue accrued from the Covid-19 levy making it difficult to use the money for its intended purpose.

When this is done, the organization says it will leave government with ready funds to cater for any health emergencies which may arise in the future.

“With government’s intention to sustain gains made under COVID-19 to detect and respond to future pandemics and emergencies, by embracing vaccination as its main prevention strategy among other interventions such as strengthening disease surveillance response, establishing the National Vaccine Institute and Ghana Centre for Disease Control, it is time for the government to channel revenues from the levy into a dedicated fund for health emergency preparedness and response and outline its uses and management to ensure efficiency”.

This was contained in a press release signed by Joana Addey and Dr Emmanuel Ayifa, Communications Director of SEND Ghana and Deputy respectively.

The statement noted that government must take cues from the lessons covid-19 taught, thus exposing the weaknesses of the health system and adopting proactive means to better health care delivery.

The NGO said government’s swift move to set up the fund helped combat the disease, hence it will be a good decision to maintain it.

The statement further stressed that the fund has since seen significant percentage increase since its establishment in 2021.

“Since its establishment in 2021, revenues generated have increased by 28.4% from GHC889,07 million to GHC1.141 billion in 2022 representing 10.4% of the health budget for both years. The levy is projected to raise GHC2,533 billion in 2023 representing a 121.9% increase over 2022 and 16.6% of the projected health budget.”

The NGO stressed that lodging money in a sole account “will ensure the implementation of one of the country's key policies on global health security.”