BY: Albert Kuzor | Voltaonlinegh.com |
The Volta Regional branch of the Ghana Hotels Association under the auspices of the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) in Ho has donated items worth thousands of cedis to aid the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS), Coronavirus Sample Testing laboratory.
The items which included double door refrigerator, a floor stand air conditioner, two wall-mounted air conditioner, veronica buckets, tissues, surgical gloves, surgical face masks, hand sanitizer, liquid soaps, and epindorf tubes, among other Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), were presented to the management of the University on Wednesday, 13 May, 2020.
The Testing Centre, opened for Volta and Oti regions, is a joint initiative of the university, the Volta Regional Health Directorate and the Ho Teaching Hospital as part of the government’s objective of enhanced testing.
Speaking to the Media after the donation, the Regional Chairman of the Ghana Hotels Association, Mac Hotor, said the pandemic has affected the hotel industry hence the need to support the government to fight against the COVID-19 in order for business to return to normalcy.
“Hotel industry is into food, accommodation, drinks but none of these areas are working out, because of this pandemic everybody is afraid to come to the facility that is why the industry is suffering… We can't leave everything to the government like that, that is why we're here today to support".
He revealed that, some workers in the hotel industry in the region have been layoff due to the pandemic and appealed to the government to give further support to help sustain the industry.
Mr. Alexander Kwame Nketia, Volta Regional Director of GTA, noted that, the closure of borders has largely affected the industry but domestic tourism need to be embrace to keep business running without foreign affairs.
"We think that we should now begin to look at how we can improve upon domestic tourism so that citizens within the country who knows what is on the ground will feel okay to travel around because we are not expecting the various countries to open their borders immediately,” he said.
On his part, the Head of Biomedical Sciences who doubles as the Head of the Laboratory, Dr. Kwabena O. Duedu said the items have come at the right time that they need them to run the lab. He revealed that, since the laboratory started testing on April 27, 2020, some 1,400 samples were tested out of which five were positive of COVID-19.
He admonished Ghanaians to adhere to the various protocols because the virus is real.
Also present at the ceremony were the Volta Regional Minister, Dr. Archibald Letsa and Professor John Gyapong, UHAS Vice Chancellor.
Source: www.voltaonlinegh.com
