Coronavirus: Drivers appeal for PPEs

Drivers at the Tema Station Lorry Park in Accra, have appealed to government and private institutions to support them with Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in the fight against COVID-19.

They said they lacked nose masks, hand sanitisers and handwashing facilities and needed support to contain the spread of the virus at the station.

The drivers made the appeal through the Ghana News Agency, after President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, directed the Police to enforce the wearing of nose masks and observance of safety protocols by all, including traders, drivers and passengers.

Mr Emmanuel Ankrah, Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU), Secretary at the Good Shepherd Tema Station branch, said: “most drivers, commuters and traders at the station” were not observing the COVID-19 safety protocols due to necessity.

“In most cases, the Union had to supply nose masks to some commuters who couldn’t afford to get one, even though a nose mask goes for GH¢1, it doesn’t come easy for many,” he said.

Abraham Ofori Armah, Mamprobi-Banana Inn Bus Driver, said they run short of hand sanitisers and also needed handwashing stations to encourage drivers and passengers to observe the protocols.

Madam Diana Odwira, a trader, who deals in hand sanitisers at the Station, said most people could not afford the sanitisers despite the reduction in price.

She said a 100 mililitre bottle of a hand sanitizer was sold at GH¢5 for two, and GH¢3 for one, saying, even with that, the patronage was low.

The GNA observed that some passengers wore nose masks on the vehicles but traders and drivers at the station were without nose masks.

A few hand washing stations were also without water, soap and tissues and not in use.