Drone service to enhance healthcare delivery, create jobs - Akufo-Addo
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has stated that the launch of the medical drone delivery service in the country will guarantee healthcare access for more than 14 million people nationwide and employ over 200 Ghanaians.
He said the drone delivery service, which is the world’s largest and most advanced service, would save lives and reduce wastage in the system.
Addressing his second media interaction at the seat of government, the Jubilee House in Accra, last Wednesday, President Akufo-Addo said the four distribution centres, from where the drones will be operating, would stock 148 life-saving and essential medical supplies and not only blood.
Drones versus guinea fowls
“This programme is not going to be run on the public budget. Corporate social responsibility contributions from private sector players will pay for the service. I prefer drones flying to deliver essential medicines to our people than an investment in guinea fowls that allegedly fly off to Burkina Faso without any trace,” he said.
He added that “we want to ensure that health officials are well-trained, reasonably content with their conditions, and are able to practise their profession, so we can all have the confidence to entrust our lives into their hands.”
The prosperity we seek for our people, the President noted, could only be attained when our people are healthy.
Digitisation
Explaining how the government’s digitisation drive would also help transform the country’s economy, President Akufo-Addo said it was the fairest and fastest way to achieve what every Ghanaian aspired to.
“The introduction of the paperless operations at the port, the interoperability of mobile money transactions, the National Identity Card roll out, e-business registration system and access to digital financial services are all part of the drive to formalise our economy, and enhance its productivity,” he added.
A critical element of the digitisation, he explained, was the National Digital Property Addressing System (NDPAS), which aimed to generate digital addresses for individuals and commercial properties and also provided navigation capabilities that helped with the ease of finding locations.