By Vincent Amenuveve

The Upper East Community of Ghana (UPEC) in the United States of America has presented medical supplies and hygiene materials to the Ghana Health Service (GHS) in the Upper East Region to help fight the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The items valued at about US$6,000 include 100 packets comprising 10,000 pieces of hand gloves,1,000 pieces of “FFP2” respirators, 30 pieces of face shields, one infrared thermometer and 20 gallons of hand sanitizers.

The items were procured from the contributions of the members numbering over 130 people originally from Sandema, Navrongo, Bolgatanga, Bongo, Tongo, Nangodi, Zebilla and Bawku areas of the Region.

Ceremony 

Presenting the items on behalf of the group to the Upper East Regional Minister, Ms Tangoba Abayage for onward submission to the GHS at Bolgatanga on Tuesday, May 19, 2020, the Former Ghana’s Ambassador to Mali, Mr Donald Adabere observed that the UPEC was formed in 2012 by a group of Upper East indigenes who saw the need to bring together people of the Region, who are residents in North America.

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Mr Adabere indicated that the association is a member of the National Council of Ghanaian Associations in New York and has been the mouth piece for “our people in representing our culture and traditions in the US”.

The UPEC, the former Ambassador noted also created a common platform to deliberate matters concerning the welfare of members and mobilised resources for charitable work to support developmental needs of the Upper East Region.

Scary

Ms Abayage on her part stated that the COVID-19 itself was not as scary as the negative impact it had on economic, social, business and religious sectors of the country.

“Unfortunately the World must learn to live with the virus and so we in Ghana also have no choice but to live with it while putting in place measures to curb its spread”, the minister noted.

She however pointed out that as it is now the country and indeed the region has not been overwhelmed by the disease and used the occasion to commend health personnel in the Region for their commitment towards fighting the COVID-19 inspite of the challenges facing the health sector in general.

UPEC Executives

The President, Vice President and Secretary of the UPEC, Messrs Sam Amoah, Francis Abanga and Joseph Atanga in a release stated that “the fight against the novel Coronavirus is a fight for all of us,not only the government”.

They further observed that “a novel virus requires a noble fight to win and so realizing the effects of the pandemic we of UPEC decided to contribute our quota to help in the fight and voluntary contributions from members yielded $6,000 all of which have been directed towards fighting the pandemic in the region”.

Appreciation 

The Upper East Regional Director of the GHS,Dr Winfred Ofosu thanked the UPEC members for the gesture stating that the disease has placed enormous pressure on the health care system globally including Ghana.

He therefore noted that such individual and group assistance to complement government’s effort in fighting the pandemic is very much appreciated.