Ibrahim Adjei, a former Assistant Secretary at the Office of former President Akufo-Addo, has urged the government to renegotiate its contract with medical drone delivery company Zipline rather than terminate it, describing the service as essential and capable of being improved through better terms.
Speaking on Channel One TV’s Breakfast Daily on Monday, December 1, he argued that the focus should be on securing value for money, not ending a system that has proven useful in emergency healthcare delivery.
He said that instead of completely discarding the partnership, the government should return to the negotiation table.
According to him, renegotiation offers the government an opportunity to review the cost of Zipline’s operations and ensure more efficient service delivery.
“What Mahama Ayariga should do is to negotiate with Zipline for the cost of the service to get better terms, because it is a business,” he said.
Mr Adjei also dismissed suggestions that maintaining Zipline’s operations creates a monopoly in the drone delivery sector. He noted that the model exists in countries like Rwanda and China and advised the government to encourage local entrepreneurs to invest in similar medical delivery technologies.
“Why not encourage Ghanaians to also enter this sector of medical health delivery? Nobody is saying that Zipline should have a monopoly. There is a lot of investment in this space, as is being replicated in Rwanda, China and other countries,” he said.
His comments follow a demand by Majority Leader Mahama Ayariga for the government to immediately terminate the Zipline contract, describing it as a “total waste” of public resources.
Mr. Ayariga made the call after the Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, asked the Leader of Government Business to summon the Health Minister to brief Parliament on plans to revive Zipline operations at three centres that have been shut down.
The shutdowns were triggered by the government’s GH?175 million debt owed to the company, which has severely hampered its ability to deliver essential medicines to underserved communities.
Addressing Parliament, Mr Ayariga insisted that the Ghana Health Service (GHS) is capable of procuring its own drones and operating a parallel system without relying on Zipline.
info@businessghana.com
