The Select Committee on Health of Parliament has given the Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman Manu, two hours to come before it and inform lawmakers of the lack of necessary vaccines.
This morning, the committee was scheduled to meet with the Minister and representatives from the Health Ministry.
But, despite sitting and waiting for hours, none of the invited officials appeared.
Mohamed Muntaka Mubarak, a committee member, said the Minister’s actions were regrettable and insulting.
Hospitals have had a hard time getting measles, polio, and tuberculosis vaccines.
The situation has not improved despite the Ghana Health Service’s pledges that it will make every attempt to supply immunizations.
Furthermore anticipated attendees include representatives from the Ghana Health Service, the Vaccine Control Programme, the Ministry of Finance, the National Health Insurance Authority, and the Global Fund.
There has been a shortage of vaccines in the Northern Region and other areas of the nation for a number of months, and a solution has not been found.
Experts have cautioned that if quick action is not done to obtain vaccinations for child immunization, Ghana risked seeing an outbreak of pediatric diseases.
The Paediatric Society of Ghana for example added to this caution on the back of reports of vaccine shortages nationwide.
According to the Paediatric Society of Ghana, the reports are just the tip of the iceberg since more facilities are recording an outbreak of measles.
120 cases of measles were recorded in the Northern Region by end of December 2022 due to the shortage of essential vaccines.
The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has acknowledged the vaccine shortages and attributed the situation to the free fall of the cedi against major trading currencies, especially the dollar.
Source: The Independent Ghana