Gov’t prioritises technology to deliver health care

…as drones technology leads the system

Government is poised to prioritise the use of technology to optimise healthcare delivery in the country, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said.

 “Drone technology has been introduced into the system to help deliver essential medicine, blood and blood products to remote communities and significantly strengthen health delivery system in the country,” said President Akufo-Addo while delivering his third state of the nation address to parliament in Accra.

The Ministry of Health has signed a Letter of Intent with the developer and operator of Unmanned Aircraft Systems, popularly known as drones, to offer a drone-enabled supply chain solution in Ghana that will ensure secure, reliable and timely delivery of essential health care products to hospitals and other health facilities.

Operators of Fly Zipline Ghana are optimistic that they will launch operations by the second quarter of the year. Believed to be the biggest in Africa, it is expected to deliver blood and other essential medicines to health facilities within the country.

Presently, construction work on a base for the flights is underway at Dominako, five kilometres from Suhum in the Eastern Region. The project, the first of four to be constructed in the country, will serve areas within the Eastern Region as well as the Afram Plains, Volta Region, and parts of the Greater-Accra and Ashanti Regions.

Parliament, last December, approved the deal for drones to be used in medical delivery after three failed attempts.

President Akufo-Addo explained that the health delivery system will also be improved greatly by the expected arrival in June of 275 ambulances - one per constituency - to make treatment of emergency cases more effective.

“We need to remind ourselves repeatedly that health is wealth, and it is only a healthy population that can make Ghana prosperous.”

Emphasising the deployment healthcare delivery through technology, President Akufo-Addo indicated that government has introduced a mobile renewal of membership in the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) that has been widely accepted nationwide.

“Today, our National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) is buoyant. Government has paid the GH¢1.2billion arrears we inherited and brought operations of the NHIS back to life. On 19th December 2018, the introduction of mobile renewal of membership was launched.

“Since then, there have been on average 70,000 members renewing their membership every week, by dialling *929# on any mobile phone network.

“Soon, in collaboration with the National Identification Authority, Ghanaians will be able to register, renew and access health care services using the Ghana Card. We have to thank Dr. Samuel Annor’s brief but productive stewardship as CEO of the National Health Insurance Authority for that. I wish him well in his retirement,” he said.

To deliver healthcare to Ghanaians more efficiently, President Akufo-Addo explained that in 2018 government granted financial clearance for the recruitment of 11,018 health personnel to increase existing clinical staff.

To augment the efforts of clinical staff, in September 2018, the Ministry of Health received further financial clearance to employ 14,524 Nurse Assistants in the area of Clinical and Preventive services.

These nurse assistants, he indicated, belong to the tranche that passed their examinations in 2016 from government’s health training institutions, and have commenced work by 1st February 2019.

The Ministry of Health is working to obtain financial clearance for the recruitment of 2017 and 2018 graduates, he said.   

On inadequate infrastructure, President Akufo-Addo said: “We still face problems of inadequate infrastructure in our health establishments. We have problems of numerous structures at various stages of completion that cannot be finished and brought into use because newer structures are being started, and there is no money to finish the ones started earlier.

“This is a long-standing problem that is a mark of our underdevelopment. We will not ignore or sweep the problem under the carpet. We are dealing with it, and will complete them.

“Ghana’s hardworking nurses and doctors will do their best, as they have always done, to make sure we get the best health care; but it behoves each one of us to look after ourselves better.

“Apart from exercising and taking our regular health check-ups seriously, it is imperative that we eat healthy diets to prevent diseases that are caused by poor choices of nutrition,” he said.

Ministry of Health signs MoU to deploy drone technology for efficient health delivery

The Ministry of Health has signed a Letter of Intent with the developer and operator of Unmanned Aircraft Systems, popularly known as drones, to offer a drone-enabled supply chain solution in Ghana that will ensure secure, reliable and timely deliveries of essential health care products to hospitals and other health facilities.

The Service, which will be designed, installed and operated by USA-based Zipline International Inc. in partnership with the Ghana Health Service, will leverage technology to improve the supply chain of critical medical supplies, reduce waste and save lives.

A Deputy Minister of Health, Tina Mensah, signed on behalf of Ghana while Keller Rinaudo, CEO of Zipline, signed for his company in Accra on Monday 23rd April 2018, in the presence of Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, who has championed the governmental effort to ensure the use of innovation and technology in public service delivery.

Zipline was one of the many companies with cutting-edge technology who met and held discussions with the Vice President and the founders and leaders of a number of Ghanaian ICT firms a few weeks ago during H.E. Dr Bawumia’s working visit to Silicon Valley, California, USA.

A number of companies based in the ICT hub of Silicon Valley have also indicated their readiness to explore partnership opportunities with their Ghanaian counterparts after the trip to design and implement Ghanaian solutions for Ghanaian challenges.

Speaking earlier in the day at the 2018 edition of the Ministry of Health and Partners Health Summit, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia had indicated that government was exploring innovative ways, including the use of drone technology, to make universal health care available to every Ghanaian in a timely manner irrespective of location.

According to officials, Ghana will become the first country in West Africa, and the largest in the world, to use such a delivery system when it is fully deployed.

The system can also be employed to deliver other items such as urgent letters, examination papers and election materials such as ballot papers, officials maintain.

Addressing the media after the brief signing ceremony, which was witnessed by officials from the National Blood Bank, Ghana Post and Ghana Civil Aviation Authority, Tina Mensah extolled the virtues of such a system for efficient health care delivery.

“Very soon we will be seeing some drones flying to hitherto hard to reach areas of this country and thereby we will be saving lives. It will have so many uses. For example, when there is an accident somewhere, instead of transporting essential healthcare products by a vehicle which would take a lot more time, the drones can just deliver within the shortest possible time, so lives could be saved.”

The Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr. Anthony Nsiah Asare, recounted how this technology has helped in the healthcare delivery systems in Rwanda to the admiration of the global medical field and was optimistic its introduction in Ghana will improve the performance of the GHS.

He called for speedy implementation of the technology for efficient healthcare delivery.

Meanwhile, the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority has pledged to create an air corridor for drones to prevent collisions with aeroplanes and other larger aircraft.

Plan bailouts to reduce cost to economy—Seth Terkper

 A former Finance Minister, Mr. Seth Terkper has called for an enhanced plan bailouts to reduce the high cost to the overall economy and stakeholders.

“Most of the unplanned —and even planned—bailouts initiated by Bank of Ghana and the Ministry of Finance as part of the banking sector reforms are at a high fiscal cost to the overall economy , taxpayers and stakeholders such as domestic investors, depositors, pension fund contributors, employees and families.

The banking sector measures appear to contribute to the slowdown in overall performance of the economy (as epitomised in non-oil GDP growth rates) through the dampening effect of financial and general services sectors” Mr. Terkper told the B&FT in a telephone interview.

He explained that: “We cannot expect our banks to grow in isolation else a ‘big bang’ restructuring will ignore the fact that a healthy financial sector is a function of overall growth.

Hence, it appears that the steep capitalisation in a shallow domestic market and restructuring did not full account of the fact that, globally, advanced, emerging, and SSA economies were slowly coming out of worse financial crisis and economic downturn since the 1930s.  

Further, since deposits and credits fuel an efficient real economy, we expect dramatic reforms to prolong the lag in Ghana’s recovery, despite the its fortune with oil and gas”.

Ghana barely escaped the recession that affected many Sub-Saharan African countries (SSA) between 2014 and 2016, a situation that warrants that the managers of the economy avoid policies that lead to bailouts as they affect investments and aggravate the distortion in use of budget resources.

The key lesson is to avoid parochial monetary and, by analogy, fiscal  policies that result in losses for the general or common good. It is clear that any directive, legislation  or regulation must go beyond core banking to cover other non-bank considerations of financial  sector reforms.”

In January 2019, the Finance Ministry announced a GH¢2 billion plus financing arrangement to help some indigenous banks meet the GH¢400 million minimum capital requirement. The beneficiary banks are:  Agricultural Development Bank (ADB), National Investment Bank (NIB), OmniBank/BSIC, Prudential Bank and Universal Merchant Bank (UMB).

Mr. Terkper notes in 3 related articles, that the inclusion of ADB and NIB suggests that the State, as represented by MOF as shareholder, is also struggling to meet BOG’s new capital requirements—after taking the contingent liability route with getting GCB to come to the rescue of liquidated Capital and UT Banks.

The articles use official data and information to show that the banking sector reforms have so far cost  the taxpayer between GH¢7.2-to-11 billion, after making adjustments to the rate of debt accumulation shown in the 2019 Budget for FY2017 and 2018. It is also a matter of debate whether these costs include the 7 or 10-year ESLA Bond that extends the levy for that duration and relies on the contingent or quasi-fiscal structure enshrined in ESLA plc.

Mr. Terkper drew attention to original and more gradual ESLA approach,  a package  that would have sequenced the ESLA  proceeds better, with a GH¢30 billion potential due to the replacement of the 3-to-5 year “sunset” provision for ESLA with the 7-to-10 year duration of the new Bonds. Its strength is in planning well to underwrite the NPLs  without recourse to excessive borrowing to satisfy the monetary sector edicts.

Mr. Terkper indicated that the financial sector restructuring must take account of a domestic and global economic environment that goes through frequent booms and busts.

“We have started to build fiscal buffers, especially the use of petroleum revenues to set up the Stabilization and Sinking Funds to manage these hiccups and destabilize the economy through unplanned budget deficits as well as accelerated borrowing and public debt.

“Typically, we rely on austerity measures to manage these crisis and, therefore, Ministry of Finance cannot afford to spend significant loan and tax proceeds to underwrite all failed public and private investments.

“Any prolonged banking crisis will adversely affect the economy but its resolution must not ignore the required balance in allocating scarce resources among competing budget needs,” he stated.

He argued that independent Bank of Ghana measures have imposed high public and private costs with severe impact on the economy, budget, businesses, and families.

“Hence, as with fiscal austerities, we must use the lessons learned to evolve a capitalisation-cum-restructuring mechanism that imposes less shock to the economy, businesses, and  other stakeholders.

The measures should be less ad hoc, better packaged to include more public awareness and consultation as well as Parliamentary approval to ensure accountability, particularly in the use of budget resources,” he said.

Invest in new drugs discovery to boost hub ambitions —Prof Ohemeng

Government’s ambition of making the country a pharmaceutical hub in the Sub-region could be achieved if strategic investments are made by government and industry to discover new drugs, a renowned Ghanaian Industrial Pharmacist, Professor Kwasi Adomako Ohemeng, has said.

“The bulk of the profit in the pharmaceutical industry is made by companies that discover new drugs and secure patents for them,” he said.

Prof. Ohemang told B&FT in an interview in Accra that: “There are several ailments being treated in Ghana with drugs which have been developed from outside the country and are not necessarily working. Our purpose for developing the pharmaceutical industry must, therefore, include the quest to fill in the unmet medical needs of the country.”

He indicated that the pharmaceutical companies in the country have not invested into any commercial research that will enable them to discover new drugs to help address the many health challenges peculiar to the country.

“Currently there is no company in the country discovering drugs and that is quite disturbing because we need to do things here and find drugs to meet our peculiar unmet medical needs,” he said.

Speaking about his new discovery, Omadacycline, a world-class antibiotic which is expected to enter the global pharmaceutical market next year, Prof. Ohemeng, explained that he led an optimisation team to successfully develop the Omadacycline, an antibiotic which is under US Patent number 7,056,902 assigned to Paratek Pharmaceuticals, a US-based Biotech Company.

Prof. Ohemeng, who is also the Dean of the School of Pharmacy, Central University College, was recruited from another global pharmaceutical giant Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) to help the company fast-track the process of development.

“It took 17 years between discovery, clinical test and approvals to get the Omadacycline product finally approved,” he said.

The US Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) has granted approval for the use of Omadacycline for the treatment of adults with community-acquired bacterial pneumonia (CABP) and Acute skin and skin structure infections (ABSSSI).

The once-daily Intravenous (IV) and oral antibiotic is a modern tetracycline that has the activity against broad spectrum of bacteria including drug-resistant strains of gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria.

Omadacycline is the first-in-class aminomethylcycline, which can overcome antibiotic-resistant bacteria in two main ways, by ribosomal protection and efinx group.

The intravenous (IV) and oral antibiotic is a product assigned to Paratek. It offers clinicians the opportunity to treat patients intravenously and the transition to oral administration which can reduce hospitalization and cost associated with hospital admission.

The FDA decision to approve the drug for the approved indications was based on multiple clinical trials that assessed the efficacy and safety of the drug in a total of three phase trials that evaluated the drug in 2,150 participants. Omadacycline is also being evaluated for the treatment of urinary tract infections.

Industrial potential 

Although 70 per cent of pharmaceutical products used in the country are imported, the industry is expected to reach US$1 billion in value by the end of 2018.

Contained in the Ghana Business Development Review Report, compiled by the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS) in June this year, the report said although local manufacturers had the capacity to fill the gap, Ghana still depended on the importation of pharmaceutical products.

The report indicated that most of the imports were from India and China and had left the local manufacturers with only 30 per cent of the market share in the country.

“The local industry has an installed capacity for both solid and liquid dosage forms to supply all domestic needs, as well as enough for export. There is, however, capacity under-utilisation–less than 55 per cent on average—as a result of inadequate resources,” the report said.

GH¢45.4bn tax revenue target to be revised upward

There is an ongoing discussion to revise upward the GH¢45.4billion tax revenue target for the 2019 fiscal year, Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Emmanuel Kofi Nti, has disclosed.

“Considering government’s objective of Ghana Beyond Aid, there is ongoing discussion to revise the 2019 revenue target upward. The GRA will marshal all its efforts to considerably improve on its collections for the year,” he said.

Speaking at a media briefing in Accra, Mr. Nti explained that to achieve the 2019 tax revenue collection target, other measures which will be pursued include stepping-up activities to identify and plug revenue leakages, and implementation of the Electronic Point of Sale Device as a way of improving the Value Added Tax (VAT) collection.

Other measures are: full implementation of the Excise Tax Stamp Policy; an effective and full implementation of the Taxpayer Identification Number as a requirement for carrying out transactions with identified state agencies; and regular and consistent visits to business centres by GRA staff complemented by NABCO personnel to register more tax payers.

Mr. Nti indicated that the Authority is poised to work at increasing the compliance level of professionals, adding that professionals such as lawyers, Accountants, Architects, Surveyors, Doctors and others will be made to pay their fair share of taxes in accordance with the law, including the issuance of VAT receipts for their services.

2018 revenue target missed

Mr. Nti explained that the Authority missed the 2018 tax revenue collection target of GH¢39,802billion by GH¢2171.73million – representing a negative variance of 5.5 percent.

Thus, he indicated that GRA collected GH¢37,630.54billion - representing 94.5 percent of the target.

“Although the Authority did not achieve the set revenue target, it must be stated that the 2018 revenue performance achieved a normal growth rate of 16.4 percent over the 2017 collection. Domestic revenue grew by 24.4 percent while Customs revenue grew by 3.9 percent.

“Even for 2018 when we faced considerable challenges, we were able to achieve a 16.4 growth over the 2017 collection. It is my expectation that we will achieve the projected upward revised target,” he said.

Among some of the reasons for the 2018 performance, Mr. Nti explained that the domestic tax recorded a positive deviation due to increase in compliance as a result of continuously monitoring taxpayers.

He added that domestic tax, rigorous tax collection efforts and retrieval of arrears from defaulting taxpayers were undertaken - indicating that even though the withholding on VAT helped performance, the expected implementation of the Electronic Point of Sales could not materialize…thus affecting performance.

Implementation of the Excise Tax Stamp policy, he said, faced a lot of resistance from the beverage industry. To amicably resolve the challenges, “we had several stakeholder consultations culminating in their adoption of the policy”.

This, he confirmed, delayed the process and thereby negatively affected performance of the tax type.

Regarding import duties and levies, he explained that the increase of goods imported into the economy through the suspense regimes, and the impact of zero-rated goods, negatively affected performance.

On some of the measures GRA instituted aimed at achieving the 2018 revenue target, Mr. Nti outlined: implementation of the Tax Amnesty policy; the Excise Tax Stamp Policy; and enforcing the law on Taxpayer Identification Numbers as a requirement for transacting business with certain government agencies.

“We launched the tax and good governance week to encourage filing tax returns by the public. There was also the campaign to rope more operators in the informal sector into the tax net.

“We also introduced the Cargo Tracking Note to enhance the classification and valuation of imports among others,” he remarked.

Fast Facts

                                                                        Target

2019 tax revenue collection target        GH¢45,447.26billion

2018 target                                                 GH¢39,802.2billion

Collection (Actual)                                   GH¢37,630.54billion

Deviation                                                   GH¢2,171.73billion or -5.5 %

Domestic Taxes

Target                                                         GH¢32,588.41billion

Collection (Actual)                                    GH¢24,438.75billion

Deviation                                                   GH¢850.35million or 3.6 percent

Customs              

Target                                                        GH¢16,213.86billion

Collection (Actual)                                    GH¢13,191.79billion

Deviation                                                   GH¢3,022.07billion or -18.6 percent

MODEC deepens localisation in oil & gas industry

…as 16 young oil and gas workers acquire skills in Brazil during Feb.

Sixteen young Ghanaian oil and gas sector workers have been selected to be trained in Brazil on the operations of Floating Production, Storage and Offloading vessels (FPSOs).

The initiative by MODEC Production Services is aimed at ensuring that the selected trainees acquire knowledge on modern operations and develop the right skill-sets and performance mindset needed on the job.

The comprehensive six-month training programme, which is in support of government’s policy of deepening localisation in the petroleum sector, is targetted at developing the capabilities of local professionals with the right skill-sets through on-the-job training and best practice transfer at MODEC’s state of the art facilities in Brazil.

First of its kind in the local oil and gas sector, the initiative is being spearheaded by the MODEC Production Services Ghana JV Ltd. (MPSG), in partnership with MODEC do Brazil, the Petroleum Commission and Tullow Ghana Ltd.

This training initiative will see batches of MPSG staff seconded to MODEC Brazil for a minimum of six months each, to gain exposure and knowledge from the business in Brazil. 

MODEC Production Services Ghana JV. Ltd. is a subsidiary of the MODEC Group and an operator of FPSO Kwame Nkrumah and FPSO Prof. John Evans Atta Mills on behalf of Tullow Ghana Ltd.

MODEC has been providing competitive floating solutions for the offshore oil and gas industry world-wide, and is recognised as a leading specialist for FPSO vessels, Floating LNGs (FLNGs), Tension Leg Platforms (TLPs), and Production Semi-submersibles.

MODEC has 10 FPSOs and one huge FSO vessel afloat in Brazilian waters for production service to Petrobras, SHELL and TOTAL. In addition, it has two modern FPSOs under construction for the pre-salt fields. MODEC Brazil is the number-one offshore service provider in Brazil. 

Speaking at a ceremony in Accra to officially inaugurate the programme, Deputy Minister of Energy in charge of Finance and Infrastructure, Joseph Cudjoe, emphasised that in future, training locals will become a competitive tool for companies in the sector; and that there is a growing chorus in many emerging oil and gas countries to train their locals instead of bringing in expatriates to work.

MODEC, he mentioned, sees the initiative as an opportunity to use Ghana as a reference point, where it can change the game in terms of compliance with local content laws and training the indigenes to participate actively in the sector.

Head of MODEC Global Operations, Takashi Nishino, said the company has been making considerable efforts at improving production services and localisation. 

“We are intending to continue and even accelerate our activities, and this training programme is a very important part of it.”

Mr. Nishino stated that MODEC has a clear vision to deepen MPSG’s presence as a base - not only for Ghana, but also for its future expansion in West Africa and Africa as a whole.

GH¢2bn lost through collusion of Customs officers and transit traders

The non-observance of rules governing transit trade and the probable complicity and collusion of Customs officers cost the economy GH¢2billion in revenue last year, Minister of Finance Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta has said.

“Apart from the huge loss of revenue, the practice of diverting imports meant for neighbouring countries back into the country makes our domestic traders uncompetitive, as they find it difficult to sell goods because diverted non-Customed goods are sold at lower prices.

“This could drive such traders out of business, further deepening the unemployment problem with its consequent loss of tax revenue and negative effects on economic growth,” he said.

Mr. Ofori-Atta said this in a speech read on his behalf by Deputy Minister of Finance, Mr. Kweku Kwarteng at an occasion that marked International Customs Day in Accra under the theme ‘SMART Borders for Seamless Trade, Travel and Transport’.

This year’s celebration was observed on January 28, 2019 world-wide, and focused on ensuring an expansion in movement of people, goods and transport within the ECOWAS sub-region to achieve the needed economic growth. The celebration also underlined the role of Customs in ensuring international trade as well as facilitating orderly cross-border movement of goods and services.

Mr. Kwarteng urged the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority to seriously police tracking devices mounted on vehicles which convey imported transit-goods.

“To ensure smart borders for seamless trade, travel and transport, I urge all importers to comply with the laws on international trade. I also call on Customs officers to be true revenue professional whose loyalty is only to Ghana.

“I charge management of the Customs Division to come out with appropriate mechanisms and directives to enhance the movement of goods and services across borders,” he said.

The Commissioner-General for Ghana Revenue Authority, Mr. Emmanuel Kofi Nti, explained that the ‘SMART’ concept will provide guidelines in evaluating organisational performance, enhancing security, and adopting a data-enabled risk management system.

He added that the innovative approach will further boost business processes through the use of new technologies to achieve a solid global value chain.

Mr. Nti emphasised the need to explore the use of other IT solutions to improve and expedite border processing.

“The Customs Division, and for that matter GRA, will continue to cooperate with our neighbouring countries to ensure there is a seamless movement of people, goods and transport services within the ECOWAS sub-region to help in economic growth that will also result in the creation of employment opportunities and reduce poverty in the country.

“The SMART boarder concept, unlike our common understanding of it, will strengthen government’s aim to streamline trade, travel, and also counter migration threats across the country’s borders,” he stated.

Commissioner-Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority, Mr. Isaac Crentsil, delivering a speech on behalf of the Secretary General of the World Customs Organisation (WCO), Mr. Kunio Mikuriya, said Customs has a dual task to facilitate safe movement and encourage trade, travel and transport - adding that it is essential for Customs to take the lead in consolidating and further amplifying the ongoing efforts at easing the flow of goods and people across borders, which will turn globalisation into a positive force.

Mr. Crentsil explained that the concept of SMART borders highlights Customs’ role in supporting the United Nations Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development. Customs does this by creating a level playing field for all stakeholders through simplified, standardised and harmonised procedures.

“It ensures timely delivery of raw materials to industries, reduces unfair competition in local communities, and opens up opportunities for marginalised communities to access new markets,” he said.

“It also creates transparent and predictable conditions for trade and facilitates legitimate business that will in turn contribute to economic growth and job opportunities,” he said.

He asked all WCO members to promote and share information on efforts toward achieving ‘SMART borders’, and highlight challenges faced with projects to inspire others.

Such activities, he said, would go a long way to bringing the global customs community together and forge partnership and cooperation essential to achieving success in the international trading landscape.

He added that the WCO, apart from security, is promoting a performance-based culture which rests on self-evaluation and objective measurement by exhorting Customs to ensure elements of the trade flows and organisational performance is measurable.

Mr. Harry Owusu, Board Chairman of the Ghana Revenue Authority, appealed to Customs officers to carry out their duties in a way that clears perceptions in the minds of the travelling public that officials are a hindrance to trade, travel and the movement of people across borders.

He said the Customs Division, last year, introduced a number of measures to enhance revenue mobilised from the entry points.

He said the target set for last year could not be achieved, adding: “This situation calls for stringent measures to ensure it is realised this year”.

Mr. Owusu advised Customs officers to adopt best practices to ensure professionalism. “It is imperative for the Customs Division to adopt and apply technology, methods and international standards to increase the volume of trade across the country’s borders and entry points.

“I urge all officers to be honest and transparent in their dealings and interactions with importers, to erase the perception of corruption that seems to be embedded in the minds of the public,” he said.