According to a news report by myjoyonline.com, Agyeman-Manu and some officials from his ministry and the Ghana Health Service were expected to appear before the committee to answer questions on the shortage of vaccines in the country.
The report indicated that neither the minister nor his officials were present before the committee hours after the committee’s meeting had started on Tuesday, February 28, 2023.
It added that the absences of the minister and his officials infuriated the members of the committee including the Member of Parliament for Asawase, Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak, who described the absence of the officials as disrespectful.
The Health Minister, Dr. Kwaku Agyeman Manu, was invited to an emergency meeting with the Parliamentary Committee on Health on Tuesday, February 28, 2023. The minister was expected to brief the committee on the current nationwide vaccine shortage.
He is also expected to tell the committee about measures put in place by his ministry to address the situation. The committee has also invited the Ghana Health Service (GHS) and other institutions on the same issue.
“The Committee also requests the presence of the following institutions’ heads and relevant officers: the Ghana Health Service, the National Health Insurance Authority, the Global Fund, the Ministry of Finance, and the Vaccine Control Programme,” a letter addressed to the Health Minister stated.
There are reports of a shortage of vaccines used for routine vaccination of children from childbirth to age 18 months in some parts of the country.
Vaccines for diseases such as measles, polio, and tuberculosis have been scarce in hospitals.
This is likely to increase the vulnerability of the very children the vaccines are meant to protect.
The Western, Greater Accra, Central, Upper West, Bono, Eastern, and Upper East regions are among the regions affected by the vaccine shortage.
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Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu