Ghana praises Turkish medical donations

ACCRA, Ghana - Anadolu Agency

Ghana has welcomed donations made by the Turkish government to the West African country’s medical sector.

“This is going to help newborn babies in this country,” Tony Goodman, public relations officer at Ghana’s Health Ministry, told Anadolu Agency on April 17.    

“It is going to help surgery services and also help in emergency healthcare,” he added.  
 
On April 16, the Turkish government donated medical equipment valued at nearly $100,000 to Ghana’s Health Ministry.

The donations are aimed at boosting the quality of healthcare available to Ghanaians and strengthening bilateral relations between the two countries.

Beneficiaries of the donations include the Gushegu District Hospital, the Tamale Teaching Hospital and the Tamale Central Hospital – all in the northern region of Ghana – along with the 37 Military Hospitals in the capital Accra.     

Turkish Health Minister Mehmet Müezzinoğlu expressed hope that the donated medical equipment would complement hospitals currently being built in the country by the Turkish government.    

“Enabling mothers to live, enabling children to live and enabling people to have better lives are the three highest priorities in terms of a person’s duties. We are here to provide whatever is in our power to provide these priorities,” he said.

Müezzinoğlu also urged the government of Ghana to quickly ratify a 2001 agreement on bilateral cooperation in the health field.

 “We believe the gifts we are providing now, the support that we are ready to provide and the good relations between the two countries will further [enhance] efforts in this field,” said the Turkish health minister.    

The donations came within the context of Müezzinoğlu’s various activities during his three-day working visit to Ghana.