Accra, Ghana, February 5, 2020//-The United States Embassy in Ghana has provided state-of-the-art health facility to the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) medical division to build their capacities in response to emergencies during peacekeeping operations.
The medical facility- African Peacekeeping Rapid Response Program (APRRP), is designed to enable the Ghana Armed Forces to rapidly deployed and operates a UN standard level ‘2’ hospital should anything that would threaten regional stability happen.
The setting up of the facility worth $6.5 million in the country was aimed at building sustainable capacities African partner nations to enable to rapid deployment in support of peacekeeping operations or other developing crisis.
Ghana’s Defence Minister, Dominic Nitiwul at the handover ceremony at the 37 Military Hospital Compound Tuesday, indicated that the medical components was composed of a training and equipment.
He said the training aspects of the medical components of the programme marks one of the most practical deployment experience acquisition mechanism for the Ghana Armed Forces medical personnel.
Mr Nitiwul added that the shared platform between Ghana Armed Forces and the United Nations’ partners provided the GAF participants the opportunity to tap into the many years of deployment experience, especially in the subject areas of medical planning logistic and biomedical equipment repairs free field sanitation vendor training and advanced trauma life support, “adding to our many years of peacekeeping experiences.”
According to him, the handling over of the equipment marks a major milestone to GAF and the hospital, especially in the provision continuous training the forces medical service personnel when preparing to deploy for any mission.
“I wish to urge the train personnel to prepare to impact the knowledge they have acquired through their compatriots when called upon to do so,” he urged.
The US Ambassador to Ghana H.E Stephanie Sullivan on her part said the Ghana Armed Forces over the part six decades it had been used in peacekeeping operations and by that the Forces as an institution has gained global respect for its military professionalism and democratic values.
Ambassador Sullivan added that in the United States and Ghana are close partners in addressing regional and international security issues, “to this and the US and Ghana military have cooperated on numerous joint training exercises designed to increase the effectiveness of both our security forces ability to respond to international threats such as trafficking in persons drugs terrorism and regional and international instability.”
She said the United States has invested in capacity of Ghana and five other African countries that have proven themselves leaders in peacekeeping but Ghana has successfully demonstrated its commitment and capacity to lead the change in this field today marks another key elements of the strong and deep collaboration between our two countries.
Commander of 37 Military Hospital, Brigadier General N. A. Obodai, stressed that APRRP’s overall aim is to help the GAF to institutionalize some specific programme and open up training session to qualify medics in Ghana and the sub region.
The include field sanitation courses, trainers of trainers courses, advance trauma life support courses among others.
By Akutu Dede Adimer, African Eye Report
