Preparations underway for new Central Medical Stores

A new Central Medical Stores facility is to be constructed at the very site of the old one which was razed down by fire a year ago.

Workers have moved to the site, clearing the debris of the old facility to pave the way for the construction of the new one.

During a visit to the site yesterday, it was observed that construction workers were pulling down remaining structures from the site.

Although officials at the site would not comment on the ongoing construction works, it was observed that walls that broke down during the inferno had been erected and the entire site cordoned off while the workers carried out their activities.

Inferno

On January 13, 2015, an inferno swept through the Central Medical Stores, reducing the facility to ‘ground zero’.

The nation lost medical supplies estimated at GH¢237 million in the blaze.

However, no casualties were recorded.

The Ministry of Health later secured a temporary warehouse along the Spintex Road for the storage of drugs.

High-profile visits
Days after the inferno, many people, including the President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, ministers of state, officials of the Ghana Health Service, members of the

Parliamentary Select Committee on Health and workers of the facility, visited the site to assess the extent of damage.

A few months after the fire incident, officials of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) questioned some workers of the facility in a bid to unravel the cause of the fire.

Initial assessment by the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) revealed poor housekeeping in the warehouse as contributing to the spread of the fire.
The report further stated that while the medical stores had no fire certificate for more than two years it had no functioning fire extinguishers as well.

Writer’s email: benjamin.glover@graphic.com.gh