Bolstering the efforts of government and critical institutions in managing the transmission of COVID-19
MODEC Inc., a leading provider of floating solutions in the upstream petroleum industry, and its partners – namely Mitsui & Co. Ltd., Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. and Marubeni Corporation – through their partnership in the FPSO Prof. John Evans Atta Mills are throwing their weight behind national efforts to protect lives and livelihoods from the COVID-19 pandemic by providing over US$600,000 (approx. GH¢3.5million) to support the four National Testing Laboratories/Centres in Ghana.
The US$600,000 donation comprises PCR testing kits to test over 10,000 samples, laboratory equipment, consumables, reagents and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine, Takoradi Veterinary Laboratory, and National Public Health Reference Laboratory in Sekondi to augment their critical work of testing, detecting and tackling the spread of COVID-19 across the country.
This donation by T.E.N. Ghana MV25 B.V. – a joint venture company that engages in a charter project of the FPSO Prof. John Evans Atta Mills, goes further to also help fund setting up the Sekondi NPHRL under the Ghana Health Service, by providing essential laboratory equipment and consumables for testing an additional 1,000 samples in its initial operations. Some of the equipment include a state of the art PCR Testing Machine/Optical Reaction Module and Thermal Cycler, BIOHAZARD vertical laminar airflow cabinets and Centrifuge with aerosoltight Rotor worth over US$78,000. Besides delivering basic molecular testing, the start-up of this new laboratory offers a second COVID-19 testing facility and capabilities to supplement the efforts of TVL and support the Central and Western Regions of the country, reaching approximately 5.6 million people.
“A timely and effective test and trace system is important to mitigate transmission and spread of the novel coronavirus. This becomes increasingly imperative as the country eases restrictions and returns to some levels of normal activities,” said Theophilus Ahwireng, Managing Director-MODEC Production Services Ghana JV Ltd. (MPSG) at the presentation ceremony in Accra. “It is for this reason that MODEC and its partners are supporting the country’s commendable efforts in providing adequate opportunities through these identified laboratories and testing centres to help early detection and minimise spread of the virus.”
Dr. Bernard Oko Boye, the Ghanaian Deputy Minister of Health remarked: “We are very glad to have such a donation at this time, especially since some people think the fight against the virus is over. Our objective is to reach zero active cases, and we are committed to rigorous testing, detecting and tracing. This can be achieved with such partnerships. I thank MODEC and its partners for their consistency in the area of health”.
Receiving the items, directors of the beneficiary institutions – Prof. Abraham Anang (NMIMR), Prof. Richard Phillips (KCCR), Dr. Adu-Kuma (TVL) and Solomon Asante Sefa, representative of NPHRL, in turn commended MODEC and partners for their exemplary display of corporate social responsibility.
Together with its client Tullow Ghana Ltd., and with support from the Ghana Health Service, MPSG has to date safely managed the impact of COVID-19 on its operations on FPSOs – namely, the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah and FPSO Prof. John Evans Atta Mills – while delivering strong operational performance this year.
In May this year, the Ghana Upstream Petroleum Chamber – of which MPSG is a member – also donated essential PPE to the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra to assist frontline health workers tackle COVID-19.
