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Withdraw $150 COVID-19 test fee at KIA - Bureau of Public Safety tells Health Ministry

By Mutala Yakubu
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The Bureau of Public Safety (BPS) have petitioned the Ministry of Health over the $150 mandatory COVID-19 test fee at the Kotoka International Airport.

They claim that this amount being charged violates Part VII of the International Health Regulations (2005).

This comes a day when the Foods and Drugs Authority, FDA issued a statement defending the reliability of their test.

The Managing Director of the Ghana Airport Company Limited, Yaw Kwakwa on Monday, August 31, 2020, announced that passengers who come into the country through KIA will be compelled to undertake mandatory COVID-19 testing at a fee of $150.

The BPS is therefore calling on the Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman Manu to immediately withdraw the $150 fee charged for COVID-19 test at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA).

READ ALSO: Passengers to pay 150 dollars for PCR Covid-19 test at KIA

BPS in a letter to the Health Minister dated Wednesday, September 2, 2020, demanded the immediate withdrawal of the fee.

“Withdraw with immediate effect the USD150 testing fee per traveller completely.”

The Bureau of Public Safety further urged the Ministry of Health to direct the Ghana Health Service to “maintain the 72-hour prior-take-off/travel testing requirement and enforce a 14-day mandatory self-isolation regime for passengers arriving without a PCR test taken within the last 72 hours.”

READ ALSO: $150 COVID-19 test at KIA reliable - FDA 

Below is the letter from BPS to the Health Minister


Dear Sir,
INTERNATIONAL HEALTH REGULATION VIOLATION: $150 PER TRAVELER MANDATORY COVID-19 TESTING FEE AT GHANA’s AIRPORT OF ENTRY
The Bureau of Public Safety (BPS) writes to draw your attention to a direct contravention of the World Health Organization’s International Health Regulations (IHR) by the Government of Ghana requiring your immediate attention.

Following the lifting of the ban on air travel by the Government of Ghana on 1st September 2020, the Ministry of Health, in conjunction with the Ghana Health Service, has instituted a $150 mandatory COVID-19 test fee to be levied on travelers upon their disembarkation at the Kotoka International Airport. This is, apparently, part of the Government’s measures to stop the international spread of the novel coronavirus.

As a socially engaged and committed organization, the BPS wholeheartedly welcomes efforts to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus. However, we find the Government’s decision to mandatorily levy all travelers a $150 USD testing fee a grave violation of Part VII of the International Health Regulations (2005), which states, inter alia, that ‘Except for travelers seeking temporary or permanent residence, no charge shall be made by a State Party for any medical examination provided for in the IHR, or any supplementary examination which may be required by that State Party to ascertain the health status of the traveler examined for the protection of public health.’ (Article 40 Para 1, & 1(a))

The BPS, therefore, wish to request your outfit to:
1. Withdraw with immediate effect the USD 150 testing fee per traveler completely,

2. Maintain the 72-hour prior-take-off/travel testing requirement, and

3. Enforce a 14-day mandatory self-isolation regime for passengers arriving without a PCR test taken within the last 72 hours

The BPS herewith call on your high office to be guided by the purpose and scope of the IHR (2005) which are “to prevent, protect against, control and provide a public health response to the international spread of disease in ways that are commensurate with and restricted to public health risks, and which avoid unnecessary interference with international traffic and trade.”

We further wish to call upon the Director-General of the World Health Organization to call all State Parties signed on to the IHR (2005) who are in violation of this regulation, to immediately implement fully the International Health Regulations (2005), in accordance with the purpose and scope set out in Article 2 and the principles embodied in Article 3. Indeed, we are not in normal times and thus, a watchful and responsive World Health Organization is just what the world, especially middle income and poor countries, need at this time.

Copied:
The Country Director, World Health Organization
Chairman, Parliamentary Select Committee on Health
All Media Houses

 

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