Source: https://www.graphic.com.gh/ | 28 March 2020

The Pharmacy Department of the School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS) of the University for Development Studies (UDS) has manufactured alcohol-based hand sanitisers towards the fight against the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

So far, the department has been able to produce 2,000 units of 250 millimetres plastic bottles of the hand santisers, since it began production last Monday.

The hand sanitisers are meant for distribution to members of the university community including staff and students, communities within and around the university and certain key institutions across the northern Ghana as the department scaled up the production.

The rationale

Speaking to the Daily Graphic in an interview at the laboratory of the department, the Head of the Pharmacy Department of the SMHS of the UDS, Dr Baba Sulemana Mohammed, said following the surge of the COVID-19 in the country and globally, the department decided to manufacture the alcohol-based hand sanitisers as part of efforts to curb the spread of the deadly disease.

He said the hand sanitisers were produced by staff and some students of the department to help in the fight against the spread of the viral infection (COVID-19).

“Knowing that one of the ways of preventing the spread of the virus is through a high standard of hygiene which includes the use of alcohol-based hand sanitisers, the department decided to produce appropriate hand sanitisers to be supplied to members of the university community and communities within and around the university as well as certain key institutions”, he stated.

He added that some philanthropists had contacted the department to donate some of the hand sanitisers to the Upper East Regional Hospital in Bolgatanga, saying the hand sanitisers were being produced at a subsidised rate and not at the commercial rate to enable the rural dweller to have one.

The virus is real

Dr Baba noted that the virus was real and, therefore, urged all to strictly adhere to the precautionary measures given by health experts such as the use of alcohol-based sanitisers, regular handwashing with soap under running water, the social distancing among others.

He stated that plans were far advanced to scale up the production of the hand sanitisers to meet the demand in northern Ghana, where potable and clean water was scarce to encourage the usage of alcohol-based hand sanitisers, saying apart from the hand sanitisers, the department would also produce liquid soap and disinfectants all aimed at supporting the fight against the spread of the COVID-19 in the country as a whole.