During his engagement with the GHS, Mr Kwatia noted that the Service could leverage the large volunteer base of the Society to support public health interventions to enhance health outcomes, particularly in the rural communities. “The Ghana Health Service can fall on the volunteers of the Ghana Red Cross Society to provide immunisations and also to implement the primary healthcare programme, which is about to be rolled out in the country”, he explained. 

He also acknowledged the longstanding partnership between the GRCS and the Upper West Regional Coordinating Council, which he said had been instrumental in sustaining the Society’s operations in the region. In a meeting with NADMO, Mr Kwatia emphasised the need for deeper collaboration in disaster prevention and management by maximising the potential of GRCS volunteers. At the NRSA, the GRCS’s SG observed that the Society’s experience in life support and first aid training had positioned it well to partner with the Authority in building the capacity of transport operators in handling emergency cases. Mr Kwatia added that the Society was considering road safety campaigns in schools and that the two institutions could collaborate in that regard. 

Mr Jeremia Afako, the Head of Programmes at the GRCS, indicated that the Society was not usurping the responsibilities of the stakeholder institutions, but a collaboration to augment their efforts in serving the public. He explained that the GRCS had, over the years, provided humanitarian services to the public in line with the mandates of the stakeholder institution, hence the need for them to strengthen their collaborations to better serve humanity. Pognaa Fati Issaka Koray, the Upper West Regional Coordinating Director, commended the Society for its proactive presence at public events. 

“Sometimes even when they (GRCS) are not invited (to an event), by the time you get there, they are already there providing the needed services”, she stated. Pognaa Koray assured the Society of the continued support and collaboration of the Regional Coordinating Council in its humanitarian work. Mr Abarry Tahir Mohammed, the Deputy Director, Clinical Care at the Upper West Regional Health Directorate, welcomed the Society’s readiness to work together on health promotion activities. He said the GHS could not operate in isolation without the support of institutions such as the GRCS and expressed optimism that the collaboration would be strengthened. 

Mr Mohammed Abdul-Samad, the Upper West Regional Director of the NRSA, and Mr Osman Abdul-Latif Sinsew, the Upper West Regional Director of NADMO, also promised continued collaboration in humanitarian service delivery in the region.