The Ghana Heart Initiative, has donated Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital and the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital to aid the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The items donated with support from Bayer AG and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) include, 3000 examination gloves, 200 protective goggles, 200 protective gowns, 200 face shields, 2000 surgical masks and 2000 particulate respirators (N95).

A statement issued in Accra and copied to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) said these items would be distributed among the two hospitals.

Dr. Alfred Doku, Cardiologist at KBTH and senior consultant to the GHI, doing the donation on behalf of GHI, said the need became necessary when the global COVID-19 pandemic hit their project and its activities harshly.

“The GHI was sadly influenced by the current pandemic, when we had to accept the passing of our Governance Committee chair Prof. Plange-Rhule due to a COVID-19 infection.

“This painful news highlighted the urgent need for increased security measures within our hospitals,” he stated.

Ms. Juliette Edzeame, the GIZ Project Coordinator of the GHI, indicated that the donation aimed to immediately increase security measures at both hospitals to protect frontline healthcare workers.

She further encouraged the implementation of the GHI that targets a better management of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) as one of the main risk factors for suffering from severe courses of COVID-19.

Ms Rita Aryee, the Director of Nursing Services, receiving the items on behalf of the Chief Executive Officer of KBTH, expressed gratitude to the GHI for the gesture, adding that the donation was timely.

She said PPE were an essential part of the work in hospitals and the donated items would go a long way to safeguard the health of staff involved in the management of COVID-19 at the Hospitals.

The Ghana Heart Initiative is a privately financed project by Bayer AG with implementation supported by GIZ in close partnership with the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service.

The objective of the project is to improve risk assessment and management of CVDs at tertiary, secondary and primary levels of care in public health facilities in Ghana.

The key components include developing national guidelines for risk assessment and management of CVDs, strengthening the capacity of health professionals, improving equipment of health facilities and setting up a supportive call centre.