The Global Fund has raised concerns over the potential reduction in the potency of essential drugs currently held up at the Tema port.
The Minority in Parliament earlier issued a 24-hour ultimatum to the Akufo-Addo government to ensure the remaining containers of medical commodities locked up at the Tema port are cleared.
The Ministry of Health received 14 out of the 182 containers at the Tema Port holding essential medicines for antiretroviral, Tuberculosis (TB), and malaria treatments donated by the Global Fund after a public backlash two months ago.
The drugs were stuck at the port for almost a year due to the government’s inability to settle third-party fees.
Addressing journalists in Accra, on Wednesday, June 12, the Ranking Member on the Health Committee of Parliament, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh said the government’s delay in clearing the remaining containers demonstrates unprecedented irresponsibility.
Samuel Hackman, Executive Secretary of Country Coordinating Mechanisms of the Global Fund told Umaru Sanda Amadu in an Eyewitness News on Citi FM on Wednesday that though the drugs had not expired, the more they remained in the containers at the port, the more their potency reduced.
“…Though they are not expired, the more they keep being kept in the containers at the port. This condition reduces the potency of the drug,” he stated.
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