Government distributes PPE to universities ahead of re-opening on Monday

The government on Saturday, started airlifting quantities of Personal Protective Equipment, alcohol-based hand sanitizers, Veronica Buckets, packets of soap, and tissue papers to 234 tertiary educational institutions in 16 regions ahead of re-opening on Monday, June 15.

The items included 600,000 units of reusable face masks, 200,000 millilitres of hand sanitizers, 1,700 Veronica Buckets, 34,000 tissue papers, and 34,000 packets of soap, as well as 900 thermometer guns.

An extra 10 percent of the logistics have been added to cater for contingency situations.

About 200,000 staff and students are supposed to benefit from the logistics, comprising 44,000 teaching and non-teaching staff and 128,000 students.

Each person is supposed to receive three re-useable face masks, alcohol-based hand sanitizers, and tissue papers to help prevent the spread of the COVID-19.

Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah told the media at the Burma Camp in Accra on Saturday, when personnel from the Ghana Airforce airlifted the items to the regional capitals.

After government eased restrictions on public gatherings on May 31, final year students of the tertiary educational institutions are supposed to report to campus on Monday, June 15, to prepare for their exit examinations.

The distribution of the items is being undertaken by a special task force from the Presidency, under the supervision of the Senior Minister, Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo.

The regional breakdown of the tertiary educational institutions are as follows: Greater Accra-57, Ashanti-31, Eastern-22, Northern-14, and Central-18.

The rest are; Volta-17, Western-11, Upper East-11, Upper West-11, Bono-14, Ahafo-9, Bono East-6, Western North-5, Oti-3, Savannah-4, and North East-1.

Mr Oppong Nkrumah said the District Directors of Education were supposed to convey the items to the district capitals for distribution to the schools before re-opening on Monday, June 15.

He said the various senior high and junior high schools would also receive PPE and other safety logistics before re-opening on June 22 and 29 respectively.