COVID-19 Trust Fund: GH¢62M received; GH¢50M disbursed – Sophia Akuffo

The COVID-19 National Trust Fund says a total of GH¢62 million has so far been received by the Trust since its establishment in March 2020.

Chairperson of the Fund, Madam Sophia Akuffo says out of the GH¢62 million, GH¢50 million has been disbursed to hospitals, health centres and other agencies helping them fight COVID-19.

Madam Sophia Akuffo was speaking at a forum in Accra.

“The COVID-19 Trust Fund has received a total amount of GH¢62,333,591. At the same time, the Trust Fund has disbursed an amount of GH¢50, 000,000 in support of health preventive, detective and curative areas also to support education on preventive measures”, she said.

The COVID-19 National Trust Fund has received many donations and contributions from businesses and individuals to complement the efforts of the government in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

It has consistently been asking for more support to enable it to meet the many demands for assistance.

So far donations have been received from cooperative organisations, institutions and individuals across the country since its establishment.

Some have been used to purchase Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for health facilities leading the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and the provision of other packages as reliefs to individuals and groups.

Last week, the COVID-19 National Trust Fund advanced an amount of GH¢1.8 million to the Centre for Plant Medicine Research for the possible production of herbal medication for coronaviruses.

The fund says the use of unorthodox medicines has become important following the spike in COVID-19 cases.

Sophia Akuffo, said herbal remedies will be needed to fight COVID-19.

“The purpose of this financial support is to fund research into the development of herbal products against the SARS COVID-2 virus, the COVID-19 virus.”