Parliament has approved an amount of $700,000 for Covid-19 patients from some $35 million World Bank loan secured by the government, but the Minority in Parliament says the amount is inadequate.
The $700,000 was meant to be used to provide support for the families of those who are isolated or quarantined.
The support, according to a report of the Finance Committee of Parliament will include psychological counselling, food baskets and feeding during isolation, quarantine and treatment period.
However, the Minority National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Parliament say the amount is not enough. The Deputy Minority Leader, James Avedzi, told a media briefing in Parliament House the amount is not enough, particularly when the government is blowing US$ 7 million the said amount from the World Bank.
“We all know there are many people at home. You are budgeting only about GH¢4 million. Why have you allocated only US$700,000 to support households whilst investing over $7million to contact tracing,” Mr. Avedzi said.
The US$35 million loan is part of a $100 million facility for the Ghana Covid-19 Emergency Preparedness and Response Project.
The Finance Committee’s report says the rest of the $65 million will come from the Contingency Emergency Response Component of the existing World Bank-supported Greater Accra Resilient and Integrated Development (GARID) project.
The $35 million from the International Development Association of the World Bank Group has a 33.23% grant component.
It is coming at an interest rate of 1.25% per annum, a service charge of 0.75% per annum plus a maximum commitment charge of 0.5% per annum. There will be a five-year grace period before payment begins. The repayment period is 25 years.