Minister for Transport Kwaku Ofori Asiamah has stated that but for the timely intervention of Frontiers Healthcare Services COVID-19 testing at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA), Ghana would have suffered more consequences from the global pandemic.
Testing of COVID-19 at the KIA started on September 1, 2020, following the approval of a contract agreement between the Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL) and Frontiers Healthcare Services for the conduct of the exercise.
The move was to curtail the importation of the novel coronavirus into the country through the KIA which is the foremost entry point by air passengers from various countries.
The strategy, according to government and health officials, was to test and isolate infected persons for treatment at various designated health facilities and isolation centres.
According to the Transport Minister, from September 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020, a total number of 117,187 passengers came through the KIA, out of which 704 persons tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
According to Mr Ofori Asiamah, if Frontiers Healthcare Services had not been engaged by the Ghana Health Service with the Ghana Airports Company Limited providing them space at the KIA for the conduct of the exercise, the 704 persons who had tested positive would have entered the country to spread the virus.
The Minister disclosed these when he answered on question on the floor of Parliament about the activities of Frontiers Health Services and how much the company has received from the testing so far.
“Mr. Speaker, but for the intervention by the Ghana Airports Company Limited in collaboration with the Frontiers Healthcare Services at the Kotoka International Airport, the 704 positive cases detected would have infected a good number of Ghanaians if they found their way into various communities across the country”, he responded to the urgent question filed the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu.
The Minority Leader asked the Minister for Transport the accrual from the contract between the Ghana Airports Company Limited and Frontiers Healthcare Services for the conduct of COVID-19 testing at the Kotoka International Airport as at the end of December 2020, and what was the breakdown of the distribution/utilization of the said amount to respective contracting parties.
Commenting on the amount of money accrued from the contract during the period under review, Mr Asiamah told the House that the total amount realized from the COVID-19 testing at the KIA was US$17,359,500.
Out of this amount, he said Frontiers Healthcare Services retained US$16,202,200 for its services while the Ghana Airports Company Limited received US$1,157,300 as royalties.
Per the contract agreement, the cost of testing a passenger is US$150.00 out of which US$140.00 is retained by Frontiers Healthcare Services as the service provider while US$10.00 is paid to the Ghana Airports Company Limited.
“A total number of 115,730 passengers paid for the testing while 1,457 passengers consisting of children between the age bracket of 5 to 12 years were exempted from paying for the testing”, Mr Asiamah concluded.
Ghana’s active cases currently stands at 1,115 with 49 new cases while confirmed cases stood at 94,493, according to data obtained from the Ghana Health Service.
A total number of 92,589 persons have recovered and or discharged with the West African country recording 789 death cases.
