MODEC, Inc. provider of floating solutions in the upstream petroleum industry, and its partners have donated medical equipment worth $600,000 to four national COVID 19 Testing Centers in Ghana.

The partners are; Mitsui & Co. Limited, (Mitsui), Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (“MOL”) and Marubeni Corporation (“Marubeni”) through their partnership in the FPSO Prof. John Evans Atta Mills donated items comprising PCR testing kits to test over 10,000 samples, laboratory equipment, consumables, reagents, and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (“NMIMR”).

Others are; Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine (“KCCR”), Takoradi Veterinary Laboratory (“TVL”), and National Public Health Reference Laboratory (“NPHRL”) in Sekondi to augment their critical work of testing, detecting and tackling the spread of COVID-19 across the country.

The donation by T.E.N. Ghana MV25 B.V., a joint venture company in a charter project of the FPSO Prof. John Evans Atta Mills, also helps to fund the set-up of the Sekondi NPHRL, under the Ghana Health Service, by providing essential laboratory equipment and consumables for testing an additional 1,000 samples in its initial operations.

Some of the equipment include; state of the art PCR Testing Machine/Optical Reaction Module and Thermal Cycler, BIOHAZARD vertical laminar airflow cabinets and Centrifuge with aerosoltight Rotor worth over USD 78,000.

Besides delivering basic molecular testing, the startup of this new laboratory offers a second COVID-19 testing facility and capabilities to supplement the efforts of TVL and to support the Central and Western regions of the country, reaching approximately 5.6 million people.

“A timely and effective test and trace system is important to mitigate the transmission and spread of the novel coronavirus. This becomes increasingly imperative as the country eases restrictions and returns to some levels of normal activities,” said Theophilus Ahwireng, Managing Director, MODEC Production Services Ghana JV Ltd. (MPSG) at the presentation ceremony in Accra.

“It is for this reason that MODEC and its partners are supporting the country’s commendable efforts to provide adequate opportunities through identified laboratories and testing centres to help early detection and minimize the spread of the virus”.

Dr. Bernard Oko Boye Deputy Minister of Health remarked, “We are very glad to have such a donation at this time, especially since some people think that the fight against the virus is over.

"Our objective is to reach zero active cases and we are committed to rigorous testing, detecting, and tracing. This can be achieved with such partnerships. I thank MODEC and its partners for their consistency in the area of health.”

Receiving the items, the directors of the beneficiary institutions Prof. Abraham Anang (NMIMR), Prof. Richard Phillips (KCCR), Dr. Adu-Kuma (TVL) and Solomon Asante Sefa representative of NPHRL in turn commended MODEC and partners for the exemplary display of corporate social responsibility.

Together with its client, Tullow Ghana Ltd and with the support of the Ghana Health Service, MPSG has to date managed safely the impact of COVID-19 on its operations on FPSOs namely, the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah and the FPSO Prof. John Evans Atta Mills, while delivering strong operational performance this year.

In May this year, The Ghana Upstream Petroleum Chamber - of which MPSG is a member - also donated essential PPE to the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra to assist frontline health workers to tackle COVID-19.