The Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipal Health Directorate’s fight against the COVID-19 pandemic has received a boost of Personal Protective Equipment and assorted disinfectants.
The COVID-19 prevention readiness supplies include 70 handheld infra-red thermometers, 50 Veronica Buckets, 35 thousand hand gloves, 80 thousand surgical masks, 20 thousand pocket size and thousand 200 large bottles of hand sanitizers, 180 surgical Wellington boots, 80 safety goggles and 60 aprons.
The General Manager of Golds Fields Tarkwa Mine, Stephen Osei-Bempah, who presented the first batch of the supplies to the Tarkwa Municipal Assembly said the items form part of 400 thousand Dollars Gold Fields has set aside to support effort aimed at preventing infections and spread of COVID-19 in the communities hosting the Tarkwa and Damang mines.
“Gold Fields Tarkwa Mine received a proposal from the Municipal Committee on COVID-19 to contribute towards the fight against the Coronavirus pandemic. We have responded accordingly because as a good and responsible corporate citizen, we owe it a duty to support the committee so that together, we can prevent the spread of the virus in our municipality…Gold Fields prioritizes the health and safety of its employees and members of the community within which it operates. Hence, prior to Ghana recording its first COVID-19 cases on 12th March, Gold Fields has developed a comprehensive COVID-19 response plan to help prevent infections and spread of the virus at our mine and within our host communities”.
The Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipal Health Director, Emmanuel Afrekum in appreciation to Gold Fields Tarkwa Mine said the support is timely and evidence of their genuine partnership in the fight against the pandemic as well as the general development of the area.
“We have seen ourselves coming together in the fight against the virus since its emergence and it gives me joy that together we can win the fight. This is seen in the mining companies working closely with the Municipal Assembly and the Ghana Health Service which shows our commitment of all the partners in supporting the government effort towards addressing the pandemic. We are very grateful as the Health Service to receive such support which would go along way position the service very well and to be able to manage the situation on hand.“
The Chief Executive of the Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipal Assembly, Gilbert Asmah, on behalf of the Municipal COVID-19 Response Committee thanked Gold Fields for keeping its promise of supporting municipality and assured to put the supplies to good use in the prevention of the people.
In addition to Gold Fields donating 433 thousand Dollars through the Chamber of Mines to support the government’s effort against the spread of the virus, the Tarkwa Mine has also already ordered for two ambulances which will soon be donated to the New Government Hospital and the Apinto Hospital all in Tarkwa to boost the preparedness of the Municipality. Meanwhile, 25 out of 32 COVID-19 suspected samples taken from the Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipality have so far tested negative with seven more samples pending.
