The Public Relations Officer (P.R.O) of the Ministry of Health, Isaac Offei Baah has clarified that the ministry through the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has cleared 14 out of the 182 containers of essential medical supplies from the port.

According to him, the ministry is clearing the commodities in batches with reason being the huge numbers of the containers at the port. He said that, there were 182 containers of medical supplies meant for the entire country, however, when the containers are cleared, the ministry needs to take them to one standard location for testing to be sure of their efficacy and quality before they are distributed to the various regional holding centres.

Speaking on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo' morning on Monday, April 15, the PRO mentioned that 162 out of the 182 containers are loaded with mosquito nets.

He added that, the entire consignment will be cleared by Friday, 19th April.

It is recalled that, there were some medical supplies that have been left at the Tema Port since last year May, 2023.

The medical supplies were said to have been donated by the Global Fund last year and left unattended to by state agencies; particularly, the Ministry of Health.

But the Health Ministry dismissed suggestions that it has been very inactive in clearing the consignment.

‘’Between May and December 2023, the ministry has been clearing the consignments at the airports and we did not face this issue. But this time around, 456 containers came and the government has been clearing all of it leaving 182. The 182 containers even arrived at the ports between November and December of 2023,’’ Isaac Offei Baah stated.

He was emphatic that news about antiretroviral drugs being part of the consignments is false, adding that the containers had only malaria and tuberculosis medication.

"All the media personnel who came around last Friday would attest to the fact that the consignments did not contain antiretroviral medications," he added.