Civil Society doubts govt's promise to resolve delayed clearance of drugs at the port
Shipping containers waiting for clearance at the port
The Coalition of Civil Society Organisations in Health has expressed skepticism regarding the government's commitment to addressing the issue of delayed life-saving drugs held up at the port due to unpaid import duties by the stated deadline of Friday.
Read full articleThe Ministry of Health has asserted that significant strides have been made to clear the remaining 182 out of 435 containers containing antiretrovirals, TB, and malaria medicines at the Tema Port by April 12. This initiative follows pressure from the Global Fund, which threatened to suspend deliveries to Ghana if the port bottlenecks persisted.
However, Ernest Ortsin, President of the Ghana HIV and AIDS Network, has expressed reservations about the likelihood of clearing the goods within the specified timeframe. While acknowledging the intervention from the Ministry of Health and the new acting Commissioner General of the Ghana Revenue Authority, Ortsin highlighted past unfulfilled promises from the ministry regarding this issue.
"We welcome the intervention from the Ministry of Health, except that this is not the first time they are making such a promise to us. The difference this time is that the new acting Commissioner General of the Ghana Revenue Authority has also stepped into the matter, and she has indicated that she is going to collaborate with the ministry to ensure that they claim the commodities," he said in an interview with Citi News.
Despite these assurances, Ortsin emphasized that previous experiences have led to skepticism within the civil society. However, he expressed hope that the collaborative efforts between the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Revenue Authority would yield tangible results by the deadline.
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