To bolster its nationwide supply, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has received 500,000 more doses of the measles-rubella vaccines.
The country’s supply of vaccines that arrived through “conventional” supply methods, according to the sector minister Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, would last at least six weeks as the government scoured for additional supplies.
“We anticipate that by the end of the month, we will get more quantities of the vaccines which were in short supply, including Oral Poliomyelitis vaccine (OPV) and Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG), a vaccine for tuberculosis (TB) disease,” he assured.
Mr. Agyeman-Manu expressed the hope that the vaccines would support child immunisation campaigns across the nation as he handed the vaccines over to the Ghana Health Service (GHS) as part of a day’s working visit to the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH).
“Earlier, we received 360,000 doses and distributed it across the country. Gradually, our problem is getting over and soon we will have adequate stock to take us through the year.
The vaccines we took from Nigeria is normal industry practice and nothing strange. From time to time, when a country is in short supply of vaccines, it is the practice to take some from a country that has in excess and later repay,” he clarified.
As part of the visit, the minister toured some ongoing projects within the hospital including a two-storey 101-bed Urology and Nephrology Centre, a 400-bed maternity block and the 80-bed infectious disease centre at the hospital.
Accompanied by the Director General of the GHS, Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, the Chief Executive Officer of the KBTH, DrOpoku Ware Ampomah and other officials, the team observed massive progress on the projects, expected to boost healthcare delivery and make KBTH a centre of medical excellence in the sub-region.
Work on the 80-bed infectious disease centre, as part of the government agenda to establish 12 treatment centres nationwide to respond to health emergencies was almost complete while that of the Urology Centre and Maternity block was near 80 percent completion, respectively.
Three of the 13 vaccines used for routine child immunisation have reportedly been in limited supply nationwide since the fourth quarter of 2022, raising concerns about the increased risk of childhood ailments for children.
Under the routine immunisation schedule, BacilleCalmette-Guérin (BCG), a vaccine for tuberculosis (TB) sickness; oral polio vaccine (OPV); Measles-Rubella; Meningitis and Diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough) are given.
Babies up to 18 months old are also given vaccinations against six infectious diseases that are particularly dangerous for infants, including polio, hepatitis B, and Haemophilus influenza type B (DPT/Hep B/Hib 1).