President Akufo-Addo has commended the chiefs and people of the Upper East Region for the successful management of the COVID-19 pandemic in the area, which has claimed several lives across the world.
He said the chiefs in the various traditional areas played a vital role in the fight against the virus.
President Akufo-Addo gave the commendation in Bawku when he called on Naba Asigri Abugrago Azoka II, Paramount Chief of the Bawku Traditional Area, in the Upper East Region.
He was on a working visit to the Region and accompanied by Mr Dominic Nitiwul, the Minister of Defence, Mr Ambrose Dery, the Minister of the Interior, Mr Stephen Yakubu, the Regional Minister and other government and former appointees including party executives.
“I am very happy with the way in which the COVID-19 pandemic has been dealt with here in Upper East, and I know that a lot of the credit go to you and your chiefs. I want to thank you very much for your help and cooperation,” he said.
President Akufo-Addo said government was not sure exactly when there would be sufficient vaccines to vaccinate everyone in Ghana, but indicated that “very soon, the programme will also begin and people here in the Upper East will not be left out.”
He said the initiative by government to provide every district with a hospital had begun in some parts of the country, and would soon commence in the Kusaug area.
Apart from the Bawku West District Hospital at Zebilla and several health centres and Community-Based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) compounds in the Kusaug area, with support of the Presbyterian Hospital in the Bawku Municipality, the rest of the health facilities in the Kusaug area are privately owned.
President Akufo-Addo commended the Bawku Naba for spearheading the Green Ghana project in his traditional area and called on the rest of the chiefs to emulate his example.
The Bawku Naba, on his part, recalled that on March 17, 2020 he organised a press conference at his Palace and spoke about the role of chiefs in relation to the pandemic, saying the expected protocols were being adhered to by his chiefs and people.
He said the Binduri, Pusiga, Bawku, Garu and Tempane districts in the Traditional Area were without hospitals, and called for providing same for those areas to relieve the people of the numerous health challenges.