Noguchi Receives GHS 50, 000 Donation From WASPAG To Fight Ebola

The Wireless Application Service Providers� of Ghana (WASPAG) have donated a sum of GHS 50, 000 to the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research. WASPAG is an independent, non-profit self-regulatory body organization with a responsibility of representing and self-regulating mobile-based value added services providers. Members of WASPAG include TXT Ghana, SMSGh, MTech, Rancard, Mobile Content .Com, Nosmay Consulting Limited, El Cuto Consult, Media Edge-GSM and Vas2Nets. The fund was made available to the institute to support research and acquisition of logistics in the testing and diagnosing of the deadly Ebola Virus Disease (EVD). At a short ceremony to receive the donation, the Director � General of the Institute, Prof. Kwadwo Koram expressed gratitude for the kind gesture and underscored the importance of the donation which he said will go a long way to supplement efforts by the Ministry of Health to purchase reagents for the institute. Prof. Koram who heads the only facility capable of running tests and diagnoses of EVD in the country noted that the donation will also be used to support staff who will be needed to offer extra hands in dealing with Ebola related issues. �Our main work is research but in situations like this we shift from research to provide support to the Ghana Health Service (GHS) and the Ministry of Health (MoH) in diagnosing strange diseases. When things like this happen we may need staff to come at odd hours and work for longer hours�, he added. Prof. Kwadwo Koram dispelled rumours about any Ebola cases in the country. He disclosed that over 80 cases have been tested since April and all tests carried out have shown no signs of Ebola. The donation was facilitated by Ms. Sara Asafu-Adjaye, Owner at Savannah Property Management, who appeared on XFM�s Xpress Breakfast Show last week to speak passionately about health and sanitation with emphasis on the need for citizens to take up initiatives that will help the larger society to have healthy lifestyles. On his part, the Chief Operating Officer of TXT Ghana and a board member of WASPAG, Mr. Eyome Ackah underscored the need to support key stakeholders in the fight against Ebola. He said it was distressing to discover that such a facility lacked EVD testing kits for quality services to be provided to ascertain suspected Ebola cases in Ghana. Mr. Eyome Ackah appealed to other corporate bodies to provide assistance to Noguchi and was optimistic that the facility could discover a solution to fight the Ebola epidemic that has swept across several West African countries. �We are calling on other companies and industries to support Noguchi and hopefully we can come up with a serum or cure for the disease, we believe Noguchi has the best brains and can provide solution to the Ebola Virus Disease," he concluded.