In times of adversity, opportunities arise and so it is with COVID-19. Ghanaians are producing essential items like hand sanitizers, PPE, veronica buckets and face masks so that we are not entirely dependent on the benevolence of outsiders.
Ever since the President issued a directive requiring the mandatory use of face masks by all individuals in public settings, there has been an increase in demand for reusable, non-medical face masks made from African print.
Tailors who had witnessed a dip in the patronage of their services in the days leading to, and during the imposition of restrictions of movement, have testified that the production and sale of face masks, especially from left over pieces of fabric, has increased significantly.
Pharmaceuticals are now producing all clinical material required to stave off the pandemic like sanitizers and the latest is that Eximbank Ghana is set to collaborate with Entrance Pharmaceuticals and Research Center, a member of the Tobinco Group of companies, to produce Hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin locally to treat COVID-19 patients.
Eximbank is highly impressed with Tobinco Group’s utilization of a previous grant facility extended to the group, consequently, the bank is ready to advance a new 5-million-dollar facility to help tackle the pandemic in the country.
Necessity is the mother of invention and as the pandemic caught Ghanaians and the world at large, unawares; it has also unleashed the creative genius of the Ghanaian as we are all witnesses to, particularly with the flourishing of African print face masks.
Ghanaian students of KNUST are currently embarking on the creation of test kits since the virus is known to mutate and adapt to different conditions, hence, their resolve to create a test kit commensurate with the African strain of the virus to be used by Africans in tackling the pandemic.
All this suggests that if confidence is restored to the African and given a level playing field, we can achieve far more than what others have achieved without any feeling of inferiority. We hope as a people, we can imbibe the lessons learnt from COVID-19 and forge on ahead to build a destiny comparable to the great powers of the world.
