Suspicion As Struggling America Ships Huge Covid-19 Supplies to Ghana

Ghanaians are raising suspicions about the true motive for the recent shipment of a large consignment of Covid-19 coronavirus test kits from the United States government to Ghana as support for Covid-19 fight, despite huge supply shortage of both test kits and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in the USA.

According to the US Embassy in Ghana, the shipment arrived in Ghana on April 24, 2020 via a U.S. Air Force C-130J aircraft from the 86th Airlift Wing in Ramstein Air Base in Germany. The medical supplies including ribonucleic acid, nucleic acid (RNA) extraction kits, reagents, viral collection swabs, universal and viral transport media to collect and store specimens, and the replenishment of other consumable lab supplies.

The kits weighing some 2.5 tonnes were provided by the U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit Three (NAMRU-3) Ghana Detachment.

Reacting to the supply, the U.S. Ambassador to Ghana Stephanie S. Sullivan said: “The arrival of the needed medical supplies underscores the results of the growing partnership between the United States of America and the Republic of Ghana to combat COVID-19, to save lives and protect the people of this nation. As confirmed cases gradually made their way to West Africa and eventually Ghana, these essential laboratory supplies became even more critical during this rapidly evolving crisis and would have remained stranded in Manchester, U.K., until sometime in May if not for the assistance of the U.S. Air Force. The United States commends the Government of Ghana for its strong efforts to combat this pandemic, and we are pleased to partner in its leading efforts.”

However, while this seeming benevolence was being expressed towards Ghana, the American health system have been seriously disgruntled by lack of medical supplies and adequate test kits for the country with the highest infection and death rate for the deadly Covid-19 coronavirus.

On April 23, 2020, America’s ABC News reported: “For weeks, governors and city officials have been imploring the federal government to better assist local and state agencies in acquiring adequate supplies to conduct widespread COVID-19 diagnostic tests. With warmer weather approaching and pressure growing to reopen local economies, officials are racing against a ticking clock,”

According to ABC News, while roughly 150,000 Americans a day are being tested for COVID-19, that figure is hardly adequate in covering the needed tests for the rapidly spreading pandemic in America. According to the COVID Tracking Project, health officials have concluded that exponentially more Americans need to be tested daily before areas of the country can begin safely re-opening.

This reality has fuelled the suspicion in Ghana. Also, several Ghanaians observers on social media have cited the recent spate of contaminated test kits that had prompted several European countries and Australia to reject some of these test kits produced in China.

The US Embassy in its statement about the shipment to Ghana admitted that the medical supplied sent to Ghana were ordered in January 2020, to support NAMRU-3 Ghana Detachment research efforts. It is unclear if these were part of the faulty medical supplies that have been rejected, as it is being speculated a cross section of Covid-19 critics in Ghana.

Several weeks ago, Chinese authorities ramped up oversight of COVID-19 test kit exports after the complaints of them being substandard as reported by Reuters.

A Time Magazine report on April 20, 2020 revealed how a nationwide survey in America exposed an ill-equipped and overwhelmed health system grappling with a growing spate of Covid-19.

“A portrait of a desperately ill-equipped medical workforce is emerging from an online survey with 978 respondents, built by a grassroots organization started by doctors trying to get personal protective equipment, commonly called PPE, to facilities where it is needed most,” the Time Magazine report read.