The Majority Leader, Mahama Ayariga has implored the Ministry of Health to procure their own drones for essential deliveries.
Reacting to the Zipline contract debacle during the presentation of the business statement for the ensuing week, the Majority leader who did not mince words in registering his opposition to the contract, argued that the amount of One hundred and seventy million Ghana Cedis annually paid to Zipline to deliver blood could have been used to buy drones for the Ministry to operate and deliver the bloods.
“I am against the Zipline contract. I’m against the Zipline contract, you cannot spend GHS170 million that you’re sending blood to health facilities using drones.
The Ministry of Health should have bought its own drones by now; you can’t continue spending that kind of money that you’re paying a service provider; it is a total waste of money”, he insisted.
According to him, since 2021 that the contract was signed just to go and drop a blood, the money could have also been used to improve road networks to these villages for easy access by road transportation.
“There is road network leading to almost every town and community in this country. There are only a few locations that we’ll say the roads are not accessible; that money could have tarred the roads to all those locations that we’re concerned about, and Ghana Health Service could have bought their own drones and do their deliveries when they need to do so”.
It was his position that the prices of drones are not beyond this country with some going for as low as $4000, or $5000 and the highest around $20,000, which he explained the money spent could have more than acquired drones for every district in this country.
He called for the cancellation of the Zipline contract, while encouraging the Ghana Health Service to develop its own internal capacity to manage such service using its own drones.
The Majority leader, who said this is his personal view on the matter emphasized that when the Ghana Health Service takes up the service, it will help reduce cost drastically.
