The MTN Ghana Foundation is procuring medical supplies at the cost of five million (GHS 5million) Ghana cedis to support the Government of Ghana’s fight against COVID-19 pandemic.
The medical supplies include personal protective equipment (PPE) and other essentials required for the fight against the COVID-19.
Commenting on the Foundation’s support, the CEO of MTN Ghana, Selorm Adadevoh, said, “COVID-19 is, unquestionably, testing our society fortitude and we all have a role to play in helping the country to overcome this global challenge. From the onset, we made a commitment to provide the needed assistance to help the country, businesses and the entire society stay connected to their work and loved ones. Our first support was in that direction. This second phase of commitment is to help us directly combat the disease and to help the medical team provide the needed care to Ghanaians. We believe that we’re good together as a people especially in these times when we all have to pitch in to fight a pandemic. We are confident that together we will overcome this challenge”.
Based on MTN’s consultation with the Ministry of Health, the list of items to be provided include the following:
- Virus Sampling kits – 10,000
- N95 Masks – 10,000 boxes
- Gloves – 10,000 boxes
- PPEs (Overalls) 7,500
- PCR Machines- 4 (to be used for testing)
- RNA Extraction Kits – 3000
- Infrared thermometers- 300
- Disposable bedsheets – 3,000
Mr Adadevoh said, we are in difficult times and MTN continues to review its support to the country. We continue to monitor the global situation closely and we continue to urge our employees and customers to strictly adhere to the recommendations of the World Health Organisation and Ministry of Health/Ghana Health Service.
The Board Chairman of the MTN Ghana Foundation Prof. Franklin Manu said, the MTN Ghana Foundation has been at the forefront of Corporate Social Investments in the country. We believe the situation at hand needs the intervention of all Ghanaians and we are very happy to approve this amount for the purchase of these much-needed medical suppliers.
Following official confirmation of COVID-19 cases in Ghana, MTN took a series of precautionary measures to ensure continuity of services and the safety of its stakeholders including employees, customers, communities and suppliers against potential infections. Other measures that the company have taken include:
- Protective measures for Employees and Customers – Key among the measures include the positioning of alcohol-based sanitizers at vantage points across branches and experience centers for use by customers and employees and the deployment and the use of temperature guns and Personal protective equipment.
- Robust network for Business continuity – MTN Ghana has also put in place measures to ensure that the MTN network remains robust and supports round-the-clock connectivity as Government Agencies, Businesses and individuals resort to social distancing measures such as working from home. The company has offered extra capacity for functions such as videoconferencing and better connectivity for healthcare workers.
- Providing connectivity for Government portals – This also includes facilitation of remote working by government agencies. MTN is collaborating with the National Information Technology Authority (NITA) to zero-rate Government of Ghana Smart Workplace Portal to enable Government workers work from home.
- Protecting the customer through the provision of critical health information – MTN has provided free internet access to the Ghana Health Service website. In the same vein, the business has also provided short code 199 and 0555311311 for the Ministry of Information to be used for social media services. MTN Ghana is also assisting with the circulation of safety tips received from the Ghana Health Service sent out to subscribers.
- Free Internet connectivity to education sites -MTN has also zero-rated over 30 educational online sites (public and private) to sustain research and learning during the period. This supports a total of about 114,000 customers, consuming over 2,674 GB per day for educational purpose. Use of online learning sites has grown by more than 2000% from initial 6,000 users over the last two years.
- Free MoMo transfers and revision of MoMo wallets – Financial services remains critical in this period and is central to the fight against COVID-19. To this end, MTN MoMo has removed charges for transactions of GHS 100 and below, simplified registration for merchant and Person-to-person wallets and purchases from e-commerce and other platforms. There has also been an increase in daily transaction limits and balances for the various wallet types. Mobile money merchant accounts have been deployed as collection conduits to support Government institutions like the Ministry of Finance and the First Lady’s fund mobilization for COVID-19.
- Support with Contact tracing – MTN Ghana has also brought to bear its leadership in the technology space by supporting the infection monitoring and contact tracing team following the requisite legal procedures. This includes the sharing of Call Detail Records (CDRs) and Location Based Services (LBS) with the National Communications Authority (NCA) under the Executive Instrument 63 and the provision of 800 SIM Cards with 10GB data on each card to National Security for use by contact tracers.
- Connecting frontline staff – MTN Ghana has also donated several MTN TurboNet Routers to frontline staff and agencies to enable them attend to customers
MTN Ghana would like to assure the public that it will continue to update its measures as the situation evolves to ensure business continuity, customer satisfaction and customer safety as well as staff well-being.
