The Ghana Health Service (GHS) on Friday received 100 Automatic Voltage Regulators (AVRs) worth GH¢ one million from Nilex Corp Company Limited, a company that produces and supplies medical equipment in Accra.
The equipment was to support facilities that had set up oxygen plants and also protect most of the sensitive medical equipment that had been supplied to the GHS.
Presenting the items to the GHS, the legal Director of Nilex Corp Company Ltd, Mr Alex Osei-Owusu said the decision was informed on the frequent breakdown of equipment as a result of power fluctuation at the hospitals which in turn cost the hospitals so much to fix them.
He said the AVR would maintain a constant voltage level to the medical equipment on the same load, and regulate the voltage variations to deliver constant, reliable power supply.
“So instead of flying more people into the country to fix some of these problems the company decided to donate these automated voltage regulators.
It will offer high range of protection for these sensitive medical equipment. We are supposed to have 240 volts but ECG cannot guarantee that. If the medical equipment drops or goes high then it means the transformer would break down. But this would protect it,” he added.
Mr Osei-Owusu said in addition to the donation, the company would install the AVR at the selected hospital that the Ministry of Health and GHS would direct and also ensure that technical staff of GHS benefit from training from the company and its partners abroad.
He expressed concern that companies that donated to the government had to pay huge sums of money to clear their goods even though, such equipment were going to be donated free to the government.
Mr Osei-Owusu appealed to the Ministry of Finance, Customs Division and Ghana Revenue Authority to ensure that companies that made free donations would not be charged or pay much duties that would delay the equipment.
“The challenge has been that even though these are free donations to the GHS the company has to pay clearing duties which are not necessary. These duties could have purchased 40 per cent of the equipment and many more hospitals would benefit,” he stated.
The Director General of the GHS, Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, expressed gratitude to Nilex Corp Company Ltd for the many support received from them saying “it will go a long way to complement and especially support rural areas who experience some of these major fluctuations.”
“Having the AVR is going to be very helpful not only for keeping the system to work all the time but also making sure that frequent breakdowns are safeguarded,” he added.
Dr Kuma-Aboagye promised to protect and maintain the equipment for its intended purpose and also distribute to the various hospitals where needed accordingly.
BY VIVIAN ARTHUR
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