Cassiel Ato Forson says Ghana will not get value for money if the
current agreement is approved
Parliament has pulled the breaks on Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia’s
drones from flying to distribute blood products in very remote
areas of the country where quality healthcare delivery is hard to
reach.
This follows the discovery of some legal and regulatory issues in
the contractual agreement between the Government of the
Republic of Ghana, represented by the Ministry of Health and Fly
Zipline Ghana Limited.
Figures quoted in the agreement as service fee are also in dispute
with the minority caucus calling for the immediate withdrawal of
the agreement to enable the parties to reconcile the amount.
First Deputy Speaker, Hon. Joseph Osei Owusu, who presided over
the consideration of the US$12,527,000.00 service agreement
between the Government of the Republic of Ghana, represented by
the Ministry of Health and Fly Zipline Ghana Limited for the
delivery of emergency health and blood products to public health
facilities in Ghana, after listening to concerns raised by the
Minority Caucus directed the agreement to be deferred for a review
to enable the parties address all the issues raised by some
Members.
The Chairman of the Health Committee, Hon. Dr. Kwabena Twum-
Nuama, had earlier told the House to adopt the Committee’s report
since the country stands to benefit a lot from the agreement.
“Mr. Speaker, a lot has already been said about how the country
stands to benefit from the Service Agreement with Fly Zipline, from
lives that will be saved to the creation of jobs and reduction of
wastage. It is however worth-emphasizing that we need to
leverage on technology to improve the outcomes of our health
service delivery system in order to help us achieve Universal
Health Coverage among the other benefits mentioned-afore. Using
drones to improve our health service delivery will be a great
achievement and the Committee is very much convinced that it will
be successful. If implemented countrywide, Ghana will become the
first country in West Africa, the second in Africa after Rwanda and
also the largest in the world, to use such a delivery system to
deliver blood and other needed supplies to remote areas”, he
noted.
Per the terms of the Service Agreement, according to the
Committee’s report, the Ministry of Health bears no risk for
installation, operation and maintenance. The Ministry pays only
when Zipline succeeds in setting up distribution centers and meets
the performance specifications agreed to, in the Service
Agreement.
The contract is expected to run for four years from the start of
service at first distribution center. Zipline is also charging US
$88,000.00 per distribution center per month when fully deployed.
However, the Ranking Member of the Finance of the Committee,
Cassiel Ato Forson, commenting on the deal said Ghana will not
get value for money if the agreement in its current form is
approved.
According to him, per his calculation having gone through the
entire agreement, the amount charged as service fee is less than
what will actually be paid to Zipline Ghana Limited.
To him, Ghana will be paying US$145,000 per month as service
fee, stressing that the amount was too much and will not inure to
the benefit of the country.
Furthermore, the State stands to pay a total of US$7million while
the operational expenses of the entire agreement will cost Zipline
Ghana Limited US$1million. He, therefore, called for the immediate
withdrawal of the agreement.
The Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu also commenting on the deal,
said Ghanaian women do not need drones to distribute them blood
products and other medical supplies. What they need is to be
supported to undertake laboratory tests and neonatal care, he
noted.
According to him, the amount being used to procure facility could
be used to build so many CHPS compounds, especially, in remote
areas where access to healthcare delivery is difficult to come by.
Background
The Vice-President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, said at the 2018
Annual Health Summit in Accra that Ghana would by September
2018 use drones to distribute blood and other essential medicines
to remote parts of the country as part of efforts to ensure quality
healthcare delivery.
He reiterated government’s commitment while addressing
participants at the UK-Ghana Investment Summit in Accra in
October when his first deadline had passed.
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