The Ghana Covid-19 Private Sector fund has donated 10,000 test kits to the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, Ghana’s main testing centre for the novel coronavirus.

The donation forms part of the Funds’ ‘Protect and Resource the Frontline’ initiative, which supports the provision of vital logistics and supplies to health professionals at the frontlines of the battle against Covid-19.

The Director of the Noguchi Institute for Medical Research, Prof Abraham Anang, received the test kits on behalf of the institute.

He expressed gratitude for the donation as well as all the efforts of the Ghana Covid-19 Private Sector Fund towards the fight to halt the spread of disease in Ghana.

“This is very good for the testing situation because Noguchi has been doing a lot of the testing and now, we are entering into a different phase where more tests are required,” Prof Anan said.

“We have to do more tests and these 10,000 test kits are going to come in handy and help us measure up to the expectations for the entire country,” Prof Anang said.

The presentation took place at the site of a 100-bed infectious disease isolation and treatment centre, the flagship project of the Ghana Covid-19 Private Sector Fund.

Prof Anan said the facility will go a long way in helping the Noguchi Institute achieve both its current and future mandates.

“This facility is a good thing,” he said. “This is a wonderful project.”

When completed, the facility will support the treatment and care of critically-ill Covid-19 patients.

In the future, when the pandemic has been brought under control, it will be used to treat people who get infected by other infectious diseases such as cerebrospinal meningitis and cholera.

The Ghana Covid-19 Private Sector Fund is still in the process of raising funds to complete it in a matter of weeks. It is urging all well-meaning individuals and organisations to contribute to its worthy causes.